


Parks are made for dreams (so why am I hearing your screams?)

by PandiBear



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: A demon - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Amusement Park, Gore, Horror, I Don't Even Know, I'm a horrible person, M/M, Mentions of Blood, NCT Dream - Freeform, Poor Mark, Taeyong is an amazing brother, because I like humor too much to abandon it, because he is beautiful, he's also a model, or thriller, this is serious, well at least sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 21:18:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7949515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandiBear/pseuds/PandiBear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amusement parks, the place of dreams, a day of fun, or a night of terror</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As usual this is unbeta'ed but I hope you enjoy ^_^

"This was not a good idea."

A small group of young boys - teenagers - stood crowded together, different coloured hover boards sitting by their feet as they looked around the deserted car park of the old amusement park.

Honestly Mark, the eldest boy, had no idea why he had agreed to this. This was clearly the worst idea the group had come up with in a long time, which was saying a lot as they were known for their mischievous behaviour. By far this topped the list of bad ideas and Mark was going to try his hardest to put a stop to it.

"Why not Hyung?" Jaemin inquired a cheeky grin quickly growing on his face before he continued, "are you too scared Mark-ah? Don't worry Senior Jaemin will protect you" the younger stood in front of Mark, standing in a ridiculous pose that the elder supposed was meant to look like that of a super hero. Jaemin's smile grew when he heard a snort come from Donghyuck, who promptly high-fived him as he moved away from the oldest Hyung.

Mark shook his head, frowning at the carefree nature of the two younger boys. Looking around he saw Jeno wore an expression similar to his own, showing the handsome boy's disapproval at the childish behaviour of the two friends.

"We all know this is about that stupid dare with your classmates" he spoke, looking directly at Donghyuck and Jaemin. "I understand you don't want to lose, to be named losers or babies...or whatever by the other, but...isn't this taking it too far?" Mark pulled at the edges of his red beret, voice hesitant as if trying not to upset either of the boys.

"I agree with Mark Hyung, we don't need to prove ourselves, we have nothing to prove" Jeno voiced, rubbing the back of his neck, hoping that maybe the others will take him more seriously, which of course they did not, choosing to make fun of both the older boys. He looked at Renjun, the second oldest boy, hoping the other would speak up as well. He did not receive this help, the older Chinese boy just putting his hands up as a sign that he didn't want to get involved.

Seeing the interaction between his Hyungs, Jisung chose to speak up. "Come on Hyung, it won't be so bad. We'll just check out a few of the closer attractions, take a few pictures, then leave again, we can even stay as a group to ensure nobody gets lost or hurt, right?"

Mark sighed, he could already tell he lost, he raised his hands in defeat and gestured towards the main entrance way to the park. If he were to tell the truth, he would tell you he was absolutely terrified, he had heard the rumors whispered around the town about this place, about how when it was still opened it had claimed the lives of many, and that those restless souls were still there, haunting the park and hurting those who dared to venture inside.

"Okay, Fine! You guys win but make sure you always have your torch, phone and partner with you, I don't need any of you getting wondering off alone." Jeno gave his consent, voice laced with irritation.

Hearing the confirmation, the young boys all chose a partner. Donghyuck and Jaemin partnering, exclaiming how they would lead as they were the only brave ones, this comment earning an indignant noise from Jisung, who firmly believed he was the bravest.

The youngest boy was paired with Jeno and Renjun, the three of them walking just behind the self-proclaimed 'bravest' members who were leading the way. At the back, Chenle was grasping Mark's hand tightly, sticking closely to his Hyung, an action to which Mark just smiled fondly at.

Chenle wouldn't say he was scared...okay maybe he was a little scared but it was mostly because of his limited language. He had only been living in Korea for a few months so his Korean was improving gradually, learning more as he had the help of Renjun, who happily translated for the younger when he couldn't understand something.

Just before they reached the entrance, the boys had to walk past the ticket booth, the small room was dark, the sides and colours worn down by the weather and aging. From the corner of his eye, Chenle saw movement, looking towards the booth he saw what looked to be a shadowed figure inside the dark booth. Turning, he frantically pulled on Mark's sleeve, the older turning his attention towards him with curious eyes, which quickly turned to worry as he saw the panic of the second youngest boy.

"Ge, a man- there was a man inside the boo- room" Chenle pointed towards the dark space, trying to find the right words to explain. Mark swung round so fast, wide eyes searching the room, if Donghyuck or Jaemin saw him they would have been laughing at the comical look on the oldest boys face. The expression changed, eyebrows furrowing when he saw nothing.

The oldest was about to scold the younger Chinese boy, thinking he was trying to trick him, but quickly stopped himself, the look on the boys face showed that he was truly shaken up and the elder couldn't help but feel slightly worried. He was tempted to try and dissuade his friends again but quickly disposed of the thought knowing it would only waste his breathe, instead he wrapped an arm around the Chinese boy, giving his shoulder a slight squeeze in hopes that it might comfort the boy. It seemed to do the job as he felt the younger become less tense.

Pulling the boy with him, they squeezed themselves through the small gap in the gate, Mark going first, standing up and helping the younger through before connecting their hands once more and rushing to catch up with the others, who had not seemed to notice the missing group members. "We promised to stay together" Mark raised his voice to make sure the others could hear him as they walked.

The group walked slowly up the motionless escalators, steps careful to avoid injury, they didn't know whether or not the metal was still safe to walk on. At the top, the boys were met with a less than pleasant sight - and smell.

The grounds were deserted, the place was messy, looking as if the visitors had just dropped what they were doing and escaped from the tragic events that happened the day the park was officially closed down.

None of the boys knew exactly what happened, none of them had even been born at the time of the...incident, each just knowing what their parents had told them any time they had asked about it, 'The park was closed a long time ago and is now cursed, stay far away from it'. Clearly this warning had been ignored, the boys choosing to pretend they never heard the wise words their mothers had spoken.

"This place is a dump" Donghyuck exclaimed, voice loud in the silent park causing Renjun to give the boy a disapproving look, but did not say anything. Jaemin looked around, his face showing his excitement. "I wonder if we could get the power back on" an idea which was immediatly turned down by Mark. "There is no way we are getting on any rides, sorry I came here to supervise, not die" his tone sarcastic as he rolled his eyes at the younger boy, something which was immediately met with whines and protests of the boy.

Not far in front of them, a shadowed figure stood, watching the boys as they argued between themselves. 'The games begin' sinister smile on his face as he slowly walked back into the shadows.

 

-:-:-:-

 

The boys had been walking for a few minutes, trying (and failing) to reach the bumper cars. They had seen a park map and had tried to follow it but they seemed to be getting nowhere. Donghyuck stopped, turning his attention towards Jeno who was only a few steps behind him."You said this was the way" he whined, Jaemin joining or the fun of it. Jeno sighed in frustration, his mouth open so he could reply but was cut off by Chenle, who had seen the ride they were looking for.

As they approached the ride each boy stopped in shock, the lights turning on and lighting up the area. Looking around they saw the whole park had been lit up, bright colours filling up the  space which had previously been darkness. Each boy wore a look of awe however, Jeno's face quickly turned to worry, 'the electricity can't just come back on, it shouldn't even be available anymore' he thought, disturbed by the sudden event. None of the others seemed to be too worried, all still too dazzled by the 'beautiful' lights.

Donghyuck and Jaemin climbed over the railing onto the ride, Jisung pulling Renjun to do the same. Standing on the floor area they looked at all of the small cars, looking around carefully for the ones they wanted to use. Renjun saw the headlights to one of the cars in front of him and Jisung flash on, shocking them both enough into stilling themselves.

Mark watched as the game car began to move towards the two boys, he shouted a quick "Look out" before he heard a noise of pain coming from Renjun and a panicked Jisung.

The cars started to move, the boys dodging them to the best of their ability. Mark ran, leaving the other two with a quick "stay here" before climbing over the fence. He raced towards Renjun who was being supported by Donghyuck and Jisung, Jaemin in front of them. He pushed Jisung towards Jaemin, telling them to run. He pulled Renjun quickly onto his back, Donghyuck standing behind to support the injured boy.

Climbing over the railing, they moved as far as they could away from the ride, seeing cars crashing into the spot they were just in, the railing bending from the force but ultimately not breaking.

For a moment nobody dared to move, all that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the shocked boys. They were brought out of their reverie by a groan of pain, coming from the unfortunate Chinese boy who was currently clutching at his leg, a look of pain could be seen clearly on his face.

Jeno bent down next to the boy, trying to get a good look at the injury. From first glance the elder could tell the foot had already started to swell.

"Can you move it? Even a little?"

A tear slipped carelessly down Renjun's face, a quick shake of the head and a deep inhale of breath was the only way he could respond. He was pretty sure the injury was bad, shots of pain had ran up his leg as soon as he had even tried tilt his foot slightly to the left, he hoped it was just a bad sprain but his gut instinct told him it was more than likely a fracture.

"I can't say for sure what is exactly wrong, but what I can say is that he definitely cannot be walking around on it" Jeno noted, tone wary as he looked at the injury. Hearing this Mark walked forward a few paces, stopping directly in front of Renjun before bending down. "Put him on my back, we're leaving now"

From behind him he heard a few complaints, said complaints were promptly silenced as a glare was thrown in their direction immediately quieting the whiny boys.

Jeno shifted Renjun carefully onto the eldest's back, instructing the younger to wrap his legs around Marks torso, the younger did what he told by slipping his legs to either side of his Hyung. Mark held onto the boys legs as the younger wrapped his arms around his neck to ensure he was stable.

The group travelled slowly towards the exit, walking in their original pairs, with the exception of Renjun who was now with Mark and Chenle. The walk was silent, even Donghyuck and Jaemin who was at the rear of the group chose to not say a word, noticing the strained atmosphere around the group.

Five minutes past before the group made it back to the escalators, Jeno and Jisung taking the lead to ensure the safety of their Hyungs as they descended down the steep steps. The group had almost reached the bottom, close enough to the entrance that they could see the lights from the street lamps just outside.

Jeno made a sigh of relieve, he had never wanted to come in the first place and now he could finally leave. Unfortunately this was just wishful thinking. From the back of the group a scream could be heard. Everything happened so fast, one second it was calm, everyone safe, the next Jeno had turned to see Jaemin being dragged up the stairs at a fast pace by what seemed to be a shadowy figure, Donghyuck running up after him, shouting something Jeno couldn't quite make out.

Mark quickly put Renjun down, "I need someone to take Renjun out, anyone else who wants to leave, I would prefer it if you did, that way you will be safe." He spoke urgently, words said so fast it was hard to even understand what he was saying, his face showed pure panic before he ran off back up the stairs, almost tripping in his haste.

"Chenle, Jisung, I need you to take Renjun Hyung out of here" Jeno spoke firmly. Chenle nodded, clearly wanting to do nothing more than escape this nightmare. Jisung face grew angry "no I'm coming! I can help" he insisted. Jeno frowned at the younger, all he wanted to do was go and help, not stand here and argue. "You can't, it's too dangerous and Chenle can't get Renjun-hyung out of here by himself. Please go and help them, once you're out go straight home with the other two, I'm depending on you"

Jeno knew he had won when the younger sighed, nodded his head in defeat before assisting Chenle with helping Renjun to his feet. After he could see the younger boys were actually leaving he ran up the stairs at alarming speeds, when he reached the top he saw no one in sight so he looked around carefully. To his left he spotted familiar red material laying on the ground, he walked over to it before picking it up he found it was the stupid red beret Mark liked wearing. Tucking the hat into his back pocket, he continued slowly to the left, eyes darting around the area as he observed his surroundings.

The area was dimly lit, the lights from the rides being the only source of light, but that was all he needed. Suddenly he remembered his phone, quickly tugging it out of his back pocket Jeno rang the first number he could think of, Mark's. He waited anxiously as the phone kept ringing but nobody answered, he felt relief when he heard Mark voice but it quickly vanished as he heard it was the automatic voice mail message. Hanging up he tried Donghyuck, the phone was answered almost immediately, Donghyuck frantic voice on the other end.

"Where are you? Are you with the others?"

"No I'm alone right now, where are you? Did you find Jaemin?"

Donghyuck ignored his question, choosing to ask more of his own, something Jeno frowned at.

"Where are the others? Are they safe? And where are you?"

"I made Jisung, Renjun Hyung and Chenle leave already, and I'm-" he stopped looking around at his current surroundings. "I'm by the weird swan tunnel thing". From the other end he could hear Donghyuck shuffling around, he felt himself once again sigh in relief as he heard another familiar voice speak to him through the phone.

"Jeno-ah, are you okay?"

Jeno scoffed good naturedly at this, before answering.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? I wasn't the one who just got dragged up stairs" at this he heard a wary chuckle come from the boy. "Well I think that was your own special way of asking me if I am okay, so yeah I'm fine, just a few bruises."

Jeno smiled at this, happy to know his dongsaeng was not injured, at least not seriously.

"We're coming to you right now, try not to move too much, it will take us like thirty seconds to get to you."

Jeno stopped, he stood in the dark, grabbing his torch with his spare hand, he didn't really need it but the extra light made him feel a little bit more comfortable.

As promised he saw two figures approaching him not even half a minute later, he smiled as he quickly closed the distance between the, pulling the two into a hug. He pushed away gently, checking the two over for any injuries, only seeing a few bruises on the youngest boys wrists and arms.

Donghyuck looked around, a frown quickly replacing the smile which had been their only moments before. "Where's Mark Hyung?"

Realisation suddenly hit Jeno like a truck, his face morphing into that of panic. "I- I don't know, he was supposed to be with you" his voice grew louder, his eyes seemingly tearing up. He kept trying to reassure himself that Mark was fine, "he's a strong dependable hyung, nothing could happen to him", despite the reassurance, Jeno could only feel dread in his chest.

Jaemin quickly tried to reassure the two older boys when he saw them panic. "May-maybe he's fine, no he must be, this is Mark we're talking about. He probably went back after he couldn't find us, you know what he's like." Yes they all knew what he was like, there was no way he wouldn't leave the park without finding them.

Donghyuck quickly dialled the boys number, waiting as patiently as he could as it rang. The phone was answered after the fifth ring.

"Hyung where are you? Do you know ho-" A pained scream could be heard from the other end, successfully cutting Donghyuck off. Jaemin paled hearing the noise, grabbing hold of Jeno's arm almost as if he was trying to ground himself to reality.

In the background he could hear Donghyuck yelling into the phone, trying desperately to communicate with his Hyung, but Jaemin couldn't focus on anything, his breath became uneven, every breath becoming increasing difficult before he collapsed into the arms of a shocked Jeno, the elder bot shaking him as he told him to breathe, but Jaemin couldn't no matter how hard he tried and in the end he was met with the blackness of unconsciousness.

 

-:-:-:-

 

Jaemin jolted awake, he looked around frantically but calmed down slightly as he realised he was in his room. 'I guess it was a dream' he thought. His eyes widened in horror when he noticed the hand shaped bruises on his wrists, he shot out of bed, only to be met by the floor.

Obviously hearing the noise, Jaemin's mother ran into the room, followed closely by Donghyuck and Jisung. She rushed to her son, helping the boy off of the floor and sat him on the bed,

"You shouldn't be moving around, you injured your legs when you were dra-" She stopped mid-sentence after she realised what she was about to say, she didn't want to remind her son of anything which could have been traumatic.

"Where's Mark?" He asked, voice cracking slightly. Nobody would look into his eyes, looking anywhere else than at the young boy. Their reaction told him that something was wrong, and repeated the question, his voice firm as he tried to catch the eyes of his mother.

Slowly his mother handed him her phone, the local news website pulled up on screen. He felt his heart sink as he saw his friends face on the front. The bold title made his heart stop, tears gathering in his eyes as he read:

 

_**'Boy missing! The curse hits again!'** _


	2. Uncertain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What Mark is going through in the two years he was missing was nothing short of hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unedited (as usual) so if there are any mistakes I sincerely apologise and beg for your forgiveness, I will try and edit it at a later date. :)

He wasn't sure how he got here.

He wasn't sure where here even was.

The claustrophobic space was now the boys home, despite not knowing where he was or how he got here. He didn't know anything, not his name, not his age, not even what he looked like, so it was easy to not know what he was doing was not living, the place he was staying was not home, or the emotion he was feeling was fear.

He had been here a long time, how long? Honestly he wasn't sure either. What he did know was the time that he spent in this room was the only time he could remember. He could have been born here and he would know no differently.

But he wasn't born here, he had a home, a life, friends. The people most important to him still searching, hoping he was alive somewhere. If only they knew he was still in the place where it all began.

 

-:-:-:-

 

-2 Years Ago-

 

He was terrified. His body was in a state of paralysis, he couldn't move at all, his mind seemingly the only thing which was currently functioning correctly. "Dongh-" The boy attempted to call, only to stop after hearing how weak his voice had sounded.

Suddenly he was aware of everything, the lack of light in the claustrophobic space, how the loudest noise in the room seemed to be the fast pounding of his own heartbeat, the growing emptiness in his stomach and his dry throat.

He wasn't sure how long he had been out but he was sure it had to be a few days at least, if his current health condition was any indication anyway.

He lay still on the floor for hours, fighting the sleep which had been threatening to overtake him. As he started to drift into the world of sleep he suddenly heard the loud creaking of a door coming somewhere from his left. Agonisingly slow footsteps followed, the boy closed his eyes, feigning sleep as he heard the approach, footsteps stopping only a little away from the terrified boy.

The boys own low breathing was the only noise which could be heard throughout the room for several moments before Mark felt a cold, almost damp hand run across his cheek, managing to resist the urge to flinch as he felt the startling coldness of the limb.

"Who would have know it?"

'Known what?' the frustrated boy inquired silently, too scared to actually voice his question out loud.

As if he could the boys thought, the 'man' (was it even human? Mark wasn't sure he wanted to find out) answered the question.

"I once opened this place for the enjoyment of children and their families" the man mutter, hand moving so it was now running through Mark's greasy hair, movements slow but not at all comforting to the boy.

"Now I'm responsible or bringing sadness to many as the youngest son of chief Lee is now missing, the whole town in a frenzy over the brats disappearance" Mark's hair was yanked roughly, the boy release a choked yelp of pain from the sudden act of violence.

He opened his eyes, almost immediately regretting it as he stared up into the crazed eyes of captor.

"This didn't have to happen you know." hair being 'softly' stroked again as he stared, not blinking in fear of what would happen if he did, up into the man's dark, almost soulless eyes. "You're father could have left me alone, but instead  he took my happiness away from me over a few 'small accidents'. The man shook his head, deep laughter could be heard not even a minute later. "It's okay though, his stupid son came and walked right into my hands, so now it's my turn to repay the favour."

Mark felt a shiver run across his whole body. A chilling smile grew on the man's face as he felt the young boys fear, moving his hand to cover the boys eyes.

Mark whole body froze, his vision no longer of any use. He felt as the man bent down, face inches away from his ear before he heard a raspy whisper in his ear.

"Don't worry my boy, I'm not going to kill you. No I'm just going to make you wish you were dead" he heard the rasping laughs before his head was forced up then smashed into the ground, the force enough to force the boy into the unknown darkness once again.

 

-:-:-:-

 

-1½ Years Ago-

 

**_Pain_ **

For the last half a year the only thing he had felt was pain. He wanted to escape but that man - no, that demon was always watching.

He was constantly being drugged, he knew it, he could always feel the small needle in his skin. He was only kept awake long enough for the that thing to come and torture him, whether that was with physical pain or mental abuse all depended on his twisted mood.

Occasionally he would just come and sit next to the boy, talking for hours about his life, the park, his dream, or how Mark was now his only friend, the only person who now cared about the boy.

Today was one of those days, it was also the day Mark would fight back the only way he possible could, with words.

"You know I'm the only one who cares, don't you?" He wasn't expecting an answer, he had never gotten one before, the young boy simply choosing to stay silent. So when the boy scoffed the man was surprised but was not angry like the teen had assumed he would be, instead he released some sort of overjoyed laugh.

"You finally responded" Mark just glared at the man, not wanting to respond again after the unexpected response he had received last time.

The man began playing with the boys overgrown black hair, something he did when he was happy. "You know it didn't have to be like this? You could have grown up happily and I could still be running my park." the man smiled, that disturbing crooked smile which always managed to terrify the boy.

Swallowing his fear, he finally chose to speak up for the first time in half a year. "It did have to be like this, my dad did his job to shut down a place which was a danger to our town." his voice sounded croaky after months of being unused.

"The ghosts of those who died here still haunt those who dare enter, harm anyone who trespasses upon their favourite rides. The owner now a demon who chose to stay on the land, sacrificing people until he had passed on but his body still active without a soul. Just a living corp-" A harsh slap echoed around the room, the young boy wincing at the pain of the slap but unable to move an inch to check the damage.

"You don't know anything. You're father was a failure, he wanted to end my successful career out of jealously at his own failure. By taking my happiness he managed to raise his ranks until he was the chief of police, a job built off of lies".

"Your 'happiness' was a place which claimed the life’s of children and adults who visited, it was unfit to be running" the man glared harshly at the boy, he bent down before harshly stabbing the needle into the boys dirty skin.

Mark winced at the prick, before he felt the burning liquid running through his body, as his mind becoming fuzzy with pain, in the distance he heard screams in the room only briefly noting that they were coming from his own mouth.

 

-:-:-:-

 

-½ a Year Ago-

 

Things had changed. At this point he wasn't exactly sure what had changed as everything seemed to be a blur but everytime he woke the familiar dark figure with yellow eyes greeted him cheerfully.

"Did you miss me?" Mark nodded dully, not really sure if he meant it but at this point it didn't matter. "Mark, you know I'm the only one who truely cares about you, right?" Once again the teen nodded dutifully in response, the repsonse more sure than the last. For as long as he could remember the man with strange yellow eyes was the only one to talk to him, to pat his hair gently whenever the burning pain in his veins became too much, to comfort him and assure him that someone cared about his pitiful existence.

Despite this comfort he wasn't sure how much longer he could live like this, the pain was unbearable most days, his only movements came from the movements forced upon him by the man who also assured him it was so he wouldn't be so stiff when he stood, something Mark found weird as he couldn't remember standing although maybe he did it daily but the fussy state the pain left him in made him forget. 

He missed a time, a time so blurry that it seemed to be a dream, a dream where he was surrounded by friends and family, a kind home where he was loved. He was sure that it was a delusion his mind made up to comfort him. 

'If only this was a dream, or nightmare, that I would wake up and stay in the warm dream forever'.

He wasn't really sure why he even had these thoughts anymore, but he knew somewhere deep inside it provided the smallest amount of comfort when he though about Jaemin's bright smile, Jeno's encouraging words or Donghyuck's constant teasing. Just their names made him happy, although he wasn't sure if he could even smile anymore, especially when those figures were bound to be fake, just pieces of his overworked imagination.

He didn't want to stop imagining them, these dreams were the source of the small moments he was able to smile. The smiles so strong that even for a minute he was able to block out he pain caused by the medication the man was helping him with. 

He tried to keep these happy thoughts present in his mind but day-by-day the pain seemed to be increasing, the intense pain he felt daily seemed to be becoming unbearable.

 

_'I wish I could no longer feel anything'  
_

_'Why won't the pain go away?'_

_'No more'_

_'How much longer do I have to feel like this?'_

**_'Why can't I just die?'_ **

 

-:-:-:-

 

-Present Day-

 

_**Alone.** _

 

'I'm Alone? How can I be alone? What is alone?'

 

_**You're alone, you have no one.** _

 

A broken boy lay on the floor, he was surrounded by blood, the dried liquid now a rusted brown colour. It had been days since someone had come into the room, the usual stinging pain on his arm was absent but he was now starving and dehydrated.

Slowly the boy moved, his muscles protesting after they had barely been used for over the year, the exception being when Mark felt those ghostly hands moving his limbs as some sort of exercise. The boy continuously tried moving his legs, failing at first but as time passed he managed to move them more.

Hours passed as continued to regain mobility, when he was able to stand - albeit a bit wobbly on his legs, he started to limp, all but dragging himself up any stairs he met.

Eventually the young boy found a door, with the small amount of strength he had left he pushed it open, quite literally falling past the door once it was open. The boy didn't bother to look around, simply choosing to drag himself up off the floor, not even flinching when he cut his hand on the gravel.

He limply slowly through the area, occasionally tripped over his own bony legs as he tried to coordinate his movements. His vision blurring in and out of focus as he continued on his walk. In the distance he heard voices, they became clearer the further he managed to walk until he could make out the words.

"We shouldn't be here!"

"You didn't have to be here, we never asked you to come but I- I had to, Okay?" A voice snapped, emotion lacing his frustrated tone. Someone else humming in agreement.

"It's been two years I get it, I miss Mark too, you have no idea how much I wish we could go back to that day! But we can't and it's not safe to be here so lets g-"

Mark. The name sounded so familiar.

No it was familiar, it was his name, something inside of him reassured him he was right.

His thoughts distracted him, the next thing he knew he had tripped, falling to the ground in a messy pile of thin limbs. The noise attracted the attention of the group of young boys that stood not far from him.

One of them approached cautiously, his pace suddenly halting as he realised who it was. Mark heard a shout of his name, the voice sounded distorted as he felt the familiar darkness of unconsciousness trying to welcome him, only this time he didn't want to go, he wanted to stay awake, look at the people who felt so real, so different from the dreams. 

His wish was granted as he felt the boy shake him frantically, two other pairs of hands joining the first soon after. Opening his eyes he could see the three familiar boys looking at him, there movements freezing as they saw the blank eyes staring at them before they closed, their friend finally succumbing to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments give me life (and inspiration) so if you guys could spare a moment to leave either that would make my day.  
> If any one wants there to be pairings in the story just let me know and I might add them in :)
> 
> I love talking to people so if you want to talk you can find me on twitter @IMnotYou99
> 
> Thanks for reading and look forward to the next chapter!  
> Pandi (>^-^)>


	3. Lost and Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been almost a month, I'm sorry for leaving it for so long but I've been sick T-T

"Jisung!"

The ball soared through the air towards a young blonde, his thoughts taking him to a different universe so he missed his teammates shout. The ball hit it's target full on, the boy falling to the ground as he looked around confused as he was finally snapped out of his daze.

"Park Jisung, you should stay focused!" a charming brunette said as he walked towards his fallen friend, the usually toothy smile nowhere to be seen. "Hey your nose is bleeding, you should just stop for today." The blonde wanted to protest but could do nothing as the older boy called the coach to asked if they could both be excused.

"Will you please pinch your nose or something, you need to stop the bleeding" Jisung rolled his eyes before tilting his head back.

"So where was your head at kid" Jisung scowled at his Hyung as the other pulled him to his feet. He moved his head back down into a normal position so he could reply "Nowhere, I'm just a bit tired, okay?"

"That's not what it seemed like to me"

"Hyung will you just drop it?" Jaemin frowned at the harshness of the other boys tone, but stayed silent not wanting to further agitate the younger boy. He leaned forward and pinched the boy nose "I told you, you need to stop the bleeding."

The walked into the toilets, Jaemin getting some tissue for the boy before handing them to him, the younger taking them immediately. They waited until they were sure that the bleeding had stopped, Jisung washing his face and mouth before they headed to the spot they knew the other boys would be eating lunch.

As they approached the group of four boys they were greeted by a heated argument.

"You aren't going there, you know how dangerous it is. How could you after what happened to-" the oldest couldn't finish his sentence, the name was not said out loud but everyone knew exactly who he was referring to. "Anyway it's not safe, you can't go".

"I can't go? Are you in control of me now? Are you going to stop me?" the tanned male spoke, voice not concealing his anger.

Jaemin rushed over putting his hand on the angry boys shoulder. "Hyuck calm down, Jeno didn't mean that-"

"Yes I did" Jaemin glared at the older boy only to have it reflected back at him. "Will you all calm down?! Acting like this is going to get us nowhere". The second youngest spoke up, accent heard clearly.

"Chenle is right guys, today isn't about any of you, it's about Hyung. So will you all just stop and respect what day it is."

Donghyuck glared directly at Renjun, but the Chinese boy didn't even flinch meeting his eyes with a stern gaze. "You think I was making this about myself? I just want to go back and visit the place which is most likely the resting place of my best friend."

No one dared to respond, everyone silent as they watched the boy storm away. Jaemin was the first to break the silence, speaking low and careful as if not to startle someone.

"Tonight..." He looked around carefully before continuing. 

"I'm going to go with Donghyuck, I don't want him there by himself. I know what your going to say Jeno so don't" Said bot just looked down at the ground, his eye brows furrowed but he didn't argue. "We all know what day it is today, we weren't able to go there last year but this year is different, my parents can't stop me and neither can you. I'm doing this for Mark hyung."

Jisung turned away, his eyes watering at the mention of their lost friend. "I want to go but my mother doesn't let me out after what happened, she'll be on guard today any way, she knows what date it is." Chenle nodded in agreement.

"Same for me, you know my dad doesn't even like me staying around you guys anymore" Renjun spoke, a forced smile on his face as if he was making a joke, but they all knew he was serious. It had taken them months to convince his dad to let him be around them again, but he had strict rules put in place to compensate, not that any one of them could blame him.

"I'll go with you two, as the oldest it's my duty to protect you guys". Hesitance lacing his voice, he never wanted to step foot in that place again but he could let the two of them go in by themselves, it's the least he could do. 

Jaemin frowned at his hyung but didn't argue. The silence that filled the air was awkward, no one knew what to say as the conversation was clearly over. Jeno sighed and sat back down, he didn't even remember standing up but it must have been when he was arguing with Donghyuck. Renjun turned his attention towards Jaemin and Jisung.

"I thought you two had coaching today" 

"We did but somebody got hit by the ball and got a nose bleed" he send a pointed look at the youngest member of their group, a cheeky smile on his face as he watched Renjun fuss over the boy as he tried to bat him away. Chenle, noticing the distressed looks the over was sending him just shrugged at him before turning his attention back to his banana milk. "You traitor" Jisung called in dismay which was ignored by the young Chinese boy as he continued to look any where but the two of them.

Jeno smiled softly watching the boys, turning slightly as he felt a nudge on his shoulder. "I'm sorry if I upset you, but it wasn't your call" Jaemin leaned towards him, he spoke quietly so only the older could hear him. "I'm not upset with you, I'm just scared. I can't lose another important person to me." 

Jeno could only watch as a dazzling smile grew on the cute boys face, not wanting to turn away and miss a moment of the beautiful sight in front of him. 

"What?" 

Jaemin's voice broke him from his thoughts, he gave the younger a confused look. "Jeno you were staring".

This drew the attention of Jisung who approached them, a sly smile on his face as he escaped Renjun and turned towards them. "Jeno hyung, were you staring at our Nana?" Jaemin scowled, blushing and hit the boy on the back of his head, earning a string of complaints from the boy as he whined about how 'this was child abuse'.

The group continued to play around like this until they heard the bell for the end of their lunch break. "I'll meet you outside my house at seven" Jaemin whispered into Jeno's ear before rushing away, dragging Renjun with him, the latter complaining as they weren't even in the same class.

 

-:-:-:-

 

Jeno walked slowly towards the familiar house that belonged to his ~~crush~~  best friend. As he got closer he could see said boy standing calmly by his front gate. 

Jaemin looked up when he heard the approaching footsteps, bringing his hand up in a lazy wave and walked towards the handsome boy. "I spoke to Donghyuck after school, he said he'll meet us in the parking lot of that place" Jeno simply nodded, his stomach growing uneasy at the thought of their current destination. 

They walked side-by-side, the silence between them was comfortable. The closer they got to the park, the slower they walked as they moved closer together, their arms toughing. As they walked into the parking lot they saw the familiar figure of Donghyuck, the other boy tapping his foot ~~nervously~~ impatiently as he waited. 

They were greeted with a small relieved smile, not the greeting they were expecting. They knew they were slightly late and had thought they would be greeted by a sarcastic remark or jab, it was honestly quite unnerving, to Jeno it showed just how serious even Donghyuck was taking this situation, something that he was thankful for.  

Donghyuck breathed in deeply, releasing shakily before straightening his shoulders. "I guess we should go in then?"

The other two didn't respond, they simply moved to stand beside his as he began to walk towards the gates. They slid through easily, just as they did two years before, the rustling of trees was the only thing heard as they moved forward, up the stairs and into the park itself.

Nothing had changed, the surrounding were dark, the shadows eating  ever thing in sight. The only difference being the police tape laying on the floor. As walked close to each other, the sound of gravel against their feet was obnoxiously loud in their ears. They walked in the direction where they saw the last trace of their friend.

The blood splatter they discovered that night was easy to find, the spot ingrained in all of their minds as it was the only evidence left behind, other than the red beanie Jeno had picked up, the one he now kept in his room without the other boys knowing.

When they arrived at the spot they found it had pretty much all faded away, the harsh weather conditions washing away most of the dried liquid, leaving behind a faint brown colour which stained the ground. Donghyuck pulled a few wild flowers, which were now bent, out of his jacket pocket before placing them on the ground. He felt a tear fall from his eye before he quickly wiped it away. 

The boys stayed in silence, other than an occasional sniffle from Jaemin. The silence was broken by a loud bang coming rom one of the broken stalls, the structure screeching loudly as it broke down, leaving behind a pile of dirty metal and mouldy stuffed toys. The boys watched terrified by the sudden occurrence. 

Jeno swung around to face the other to boys, eyes bloodshot from the tears he had hidden.

"We shouldn't be here!"

"You didn't have to be here, we never asked you to come but I- I had to, Okay?" Donghyuck snapped, emotion lacing his frustrated tone. Jaemin humming in agreement, ignoring the look he received from Jeno.

"It's been two years I get it, I miss Mark too, you have no idea how much I wish we could go back to that day! But we can't and it's not safe to be here so lets g-"

The noise of something hitting the pavement disrupted the oldest boy, his sentence stopping abruptly as they all turned towards the noise, eyes wide and frightened. They noticed something resembling a human body splayed out on the floor. Donghyuck walking towards the thing cautiously. "Hey Lee Donghyuck, get back here! It's dangerous" Jeno stressed but was unable to move forward the spot he was standing, feet frozen in place. 

Donghyuck ignored the older, the closer he got he was able to tell it was human. Their hair was messy, and tangled but not too long. Moving to the side he froze at what he saw. Who he saw. The boy he had been praying to meet every night for the last two years.

"Mark Hyung!" Donghyuck rushed towards the body, dragging their head onto his lap as he brushed the hair from the boys face. 

The shout from Donghyuck managed to get the other two boys running towards them, all but skidding onto the floor next to the other boy. Jaemin looked down at his hyung, he was wearing what looked to be a hospital gown, said clothing was now a yellowish colour, ripped and stained in multiple places by old and fresh blood. He could feel the tears in his eyes as he looked to the boys face, his eyes were opening but his gaze was blank. They are stared at the boy, none of them knew what they should do. 

The broken boy began to close his eyes, Jeno tried telling him to keep the open but it reached deaf ears as the other fell into unconsciousness. Donghyuck took control of the situation, despite still being clearly shaken up himself. "Jeno can you carry him?" The handsome boy merely nodded, bending down as the other two lifted the unconscious boy onto his back. The three of them quickly turned back, heading in the direction of the entrance. 

"Jaemin call an ambulance for the street close by, I'm not staying inside this place or it's car park." He heard the boy make a noise of approval before grabbing his phone and dialling the emergency services.

Donghyuck pulled out his own phone, dialling a familiar number. He waiting patiently until he heard the  phone stop ringing and the calm voice greet him.

"Donghyuck? You know today is a quiet day for my family, is this important?" 

"Hyung... Taeyong hyung..." his voice shook as he finally released the tears that had been building up ever since he saw the broken, bloody body of the boy he had been waiting for.

"Donghyuck? Are you crying? Are you okay?" the panicked voiced could be heard loudly the device in his hand.

"Hyung you need to meet us at the hospital."

"Why? Are you hurt? What happ-" Donghyuck cut in, the words silencing the older as he sat shocked.

"We found Mark."

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Donghyuck could hear the anger in the older boys voice. "My brother, my baby brother, he's...." he was unable to finish his sentence, too afraid of saying his thoughts out loud. 

"Taeyong hyung, I'm not lying to you, I-I will send ou evidence, but once I do please go to the hospital."

Jeno listened to the distressed boy on the phone, the current situation seemed unreal. If he didn't feel the other boy on his back he would have denied the current situation. Jaemin had taken to walking slightly behind him, the younger ready to catch them as they made their way down the steps. They both listened as Donghyuck hung up, his breathes heavy as he tried to calm himself down.  

At the bottom Jeno passed Mark to Jaemin before sliding through the gate, then moved to help Jaemin pass the boy through the gap. Donghyuck watched as the other two worked carefully. He felt a disturbing presence from the top of the stair, turning slightly he saw a dark figure waving down at him, what shocked him most was the yellow eyes which glowed in the darkness. 

Donghyuck! Lets go!"

Hearing the shout, he quickly turned and slid carefully through the gap, joining his friends on the other side. They rushed through the car park, none of them looking back as they left.

They continued to walk until they were a safe distance away. They lay the other boy on the floor carefully, Donghyuck sliding his phone out once again and video calling Taeyong. The older boy answered a lot faster this time, Donghyuck didn't say anything but he could see how the boys eyes were now red and swollen where he had obviously been crying.  

"I didn't lie, he's here" he turned the camera to the boy laying on the cold pavement, his body now covered by Jaemin's dark blue coat."

He kept it like this until he heard a quiet call of his name from the phone. "Donghyuck, I'll meet you at the hospital. Before that I need you-" the boy hesitated before Jaemin encouraged him to continue. "He's breathing right?" 

Jeno bent down slowly, now it had been said he needed to make sure himself, he put two fingers to the pulse point in the older boys neck, feeling a faint heart beat he nodded. 

"It's weak but it's there" 

The loud sirens of the ambulance were heard getting closer. "Hyung the ambulance is almost here, tell your dad and meet us there." He hung up the phone before the other even had the chance to respond. 

The ambulance stopped close by them, medical staff rushing out to assist the boys. "His name is Lee Minhyung, he went missing two years ago, we'll tell the rest to the police at the hospital." Jeno spoke calmly, but his tone left no room for arguments. 

They managed to get inside quickly, the vehicle moved quickly through the empty roads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I know nothing much happened in it but I thought you'd want to see how the others found him :)  
> You know you can find m on twitter @IMnotYou99  
> Kudos and comments give me life (and inspiration xD) so please leave them if you enjoyed the chapter! ^.^


	4. I know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't edited (as always) so I apologise for any mistakes, I hope you enjoy! ^.^

The room was dimly lit, the yellowish glow of the light bulb was dull. Three boys sat within the room, two on the fluffy blue rug speaking quietly in a rush of Chinese, the other laying on his stomach on the football themed bed sheets, a comic book in his hands. Nights like these were not uncommon, the difference being that usually there would be three more boys in room, and generally it would be loud with arguments, teasing and laughter. Without the main mood makers the room was quiet but pleasant, each boy comfortable in the others presence.

Jisung sighed dropping the comic book on the floor and turning on his side while still laying so that he was facing his two friends that were seated comfortably on the floor. The curly blonde haired boy coughed, the hushed whispers stopped abruptly as the Chinese boys jumped in surprise, the older giving the youngest boy an unimpressed look which the other ignored.

"One of these days you really have to teach me Chinese, I swear you could be speaking bad about me and I wouldn't even know it".

Renjun rolled his eyes, turning towards Chenle he smirked, the younger boy seemingly understood what the look meant. They both turned towards Jisung who looked at the two boys, suspicious of the looks he was receiving from them.

"What?"

"Chenle, how did he know that we were speaking bad about him? That's the only reason we were speaking in Chinese in the first place, it wouldn't be fun if he understood us". Renjun teased, Chenle hummed in agreement sending a wicked smile towards Jisung, "True, there would be no point if he could understand us, if he learns Chinese how about we learn Japanese or something?" Chenle stood from the floor and lay straight across Jisung, he gripped onto the younger like a koala bears so the other wouldn't be able to escape, the younger boy complained loudly about the added weight. "Chenle, how much do you even weight? Get off me you elephant". Jisung wiggled trying to escape, Chenle wasn't having that and pressed his weight down even more, laughing when the other boy whined louder.

Renjun sat watching the two, an amused smile playing on his lips. "Chenle I think you should let Jisungie breathe before he passes out or something" Renjun managed through a laugh. Chenle slowly got off the youngest boy who simply whined about being bullied for being the youngest.

Jisung slid off his bed ~~not so~~ gracefully, he landed in a pile on the floor before pulling himself up. Once on two feet he went to lunge at Chenle who had back next to Renjun. The two Chinese boys were in the middle of pushing the youngest boy off of them (as he had chosen to not only jump on Chenle, but also Renjun) when a knock was heard on the bedroom door.

"Jisung, Jeno is on the phone for you, he says it's urgent". Jisung's mother said from the other side of the door.

Jisung quickly stood up, 'accidently' kneeing Chenle as he got up. Opening the door he took the phone from his mum, the elder lady walking away from the door seconds later. "Hey Hyung, what's up?"

"Jisung ask your parents if you can come to the hospital right now". Jeno's voice spoke clearly through the receiver, sounding only slightly distorted as it always did when they talked over the phone.

Hearing what the elder said Jisung felt his heart drop. "Why? What happened? Is someone hurt?  Is it because of that place? Who is it?" Jisung tried to keep his voice as calm as possible but the abundance of questions gave away how panicked the boy truly was. The two other boys in the room caught on quickly, silently they got as close to the phone as possible, trying to hear whatever the eldest boy said next.

"We found Mark"

The line was silent, Jisung trying to process what he had just heard. After a few seconds the phone was dropped from the young boys hands, caught by Renjun who immediate brought the phone up to his ear. "How is he?" Chenle could hear the hesitance in his voice, slowly he rubbed the boys back in a soothing manner. Jisung silently left his room, down the hall Chenle heard him speaking to his mother no doubt telling her what was happening.

"He's alive Renjun".

The tense atmosphere seemed to dissipate slightly at the words, the hidden question answered making the two more relaxed. Chenle took the phone from his hyung as the older seemed to be happy with the information given.

"Hyung, where did you find him?" The question wasn't answered straight away, the older boy hesitating slightly before deciding to answer.

"We went back to that place, I'll tell you the details lat-"

"You guys are stupid!" Jeno winced at the angry tone the usually happy boy was using, too surprised to answer. Jisung re-entered the room, standing by the doorway after being drawn by the sound of the shout.

"...but I'm glad you are okay, and that you found Mark Hyung" the younger boy said reluctantly, he didn't want the older thinking he had accepting their action, no they were definitely going to get a lecture later.  

"Chenle, Renjun, my parents said they would drive us, they'll call your parents as well so you don't have to worry about that. Both boys nodded as Jisung reached for the phone, Chenle handing it over as soon as he noticed what the younger boy wanted. "Jeno Hyung my parents are bringing us over now but we won't be able to stay long".

"That's okay Jisungie I'm sure that we won't all be allowed in anyway, there are too many of us". Jisung nodded in agreement before remembering the older boy wasn't there so he would be unable to see the action. "Okay, well see you soon. I'm hanging up, bye." he cut the line before the older boy even had a chance to respond.

"Let's go"

The three boys made there way down the stairs, collected their coats and scarfs before rushing out of the door where the young blonde's parents were waiting.

 

-:-:-:-

 

The lights were bright, everything was white, clean. The smell of anti-septic was heavy in air as Taeyong sped through the halls, he easily avoided the uniformed staff as they rushed to do their jobs, ignoring any who scolded him as he flew by.

Once he had arrived  at the hospital, not even five minutes prior, he had been greeted by the flashing of cameras and obnoxious question from reporters, after all it wasn't every day that model Lee Taeyong was reunited with his younger brother, who was a famous story all on his own. He honestly had no idea who had called them, but whoever it was better pray he never finds out, the last time he had felt dislike this strongly was when the younger had gone missing, now the feeling was back again once he had returned. Taeyong wasn't blaming at Mark, no, he was beyond relived that he was alive and safe, he only had one brother and he adored him. After the younger had initially gone missing it had taken him months to operate properly again, it was only thanks to Taeil that he had managed to recover at all, the elder had stayed by his side encouraging him, until he was able to get back on his feet and stop crying over the past. 

He had asked the lady at the desk which the room he was supposed to be going to, immediately departing as soon as he was informed. It didn't take long for him to reach the room, recognising it as soon as he was close enough as a small group of young boys stood outside the door.

"Donghyuck-ah"

The tanned boy turned at the call of his name, forcing a smile on his face when he saw the black haired male approach them, the older boy was jogging slightly, breath heavy once he came to a stop in front of them. Taeyong took a deep breath, then began launching questions at the boys.

"How is Mark? How long have you been here? Can we go in and see him? Have yo-"

"STOP. Okay now breathe while I answer your questions". Donghyuck tried not to show his amusement as Jaemin walked beside the eldest boy, patting his back as the older regained his breath. "He's fine, he's malnourished and had a few minor injuries but over than that, he is physically fine". He looked down at the floor, his tone becoming quieter towards the end of his sentence, Taeyong looked at the boy, catching on to his sudden change in behaviour. "What?"

Donghyuck didn't answer, refusing to look at the model. Taeyong felt himself begin to panic, the silence around him almost too much to handle at that time, he moved slightly towards the boy, only getting as far as placing his hands on the youngers shoulders when another voice spoke up.

"The doctors are worried about the mental damage, they have no idea how he is going to respond after everything that happened. Whatever happened". Taeyong turned towards Jeno, the handsome boy had a frown adorning his usually calm face, his tone loud but unsure as it carried through the unusually quiet halls.

Nobody said anything, Donghyuck had raised his head slightly so he could see how the other was reacting to the news. Taeyong's face was blank as he processed the information. After a few minutes he walked towards the chairs and sat down, his expression finally changing as he ran his fingers through his hair, his face etching into a look o frustration. How could nothinng every go right? He finally had his brother back but there was a chance he would never return to the happy, cute boy he had the pleasure of growing up with. A cough broke him from his thoughts, Jaemin shuffled slowly towards him, clearly uncertain to how the other would react to him.

"Hyung, I thought your dad was coming here".

Taeyong rubbed his face, the sudden events were quite exhausting. Leaning his head on his hands, which were now balanced on his knees, he nodded slowly. "Yeah...he said he would drop by the station first, he'll be here later". Jaemin nodded, slightly baffled by the answer, he couldn't image being like that, if he had just found out his missing son had been found he would get their as soon as possible, not delay it for something at work. Not that he wants to ever image the situation, if he ever had children he wanted them to grow up safely, he didn't want to ever go through something like this again, especially not if it was his own family.

"Hyung, you can go in. He'll be sleeping for the next few hours but if you want to see him you can". Jeno spoke, he was surprised the elder hadn't even attempted to check on their friend. Taeyong shook his head, eyes downcast, a reaction none of the (now) surprised boy had been expecting, but when Jeno thought about it they should have, none of them had gone into the room after they were given the all clear. Honestly what he saw of the boy hours before was a sight he never wanted to see again, the sight more terrifying to him than any horror movie ever could be, not because he was scared for himself, but because he was scared for the elder, seeing a friend in that state wasn't something he ever wanted to see.

They stayed in a 'comfortable' silence for the next few minutes, nobody had anything they wanted to say so they all just sat on the chairs (or the floor in Jaemin's case). The silence was once again disrupted by the sound of several pairs of heavy footsteps, Donghyuck looked up from where he had been leaning on Taeyong (secretly finding comfort in the models perfume and the light, familiar scent of febreze), to see the youngest members of their group (along with Jisung's parents) almost running towards them. In any other situation, Donghyuck may have found the scene amusing, but it wasn't and he couldn't find anything about their current situation funny.

"Yes Mark is fine, he will recover physically, not so sure about his mental health, yes, you can go in and see him". Jeno's tone showed his exhaustion, he spoke firmly before anyone could even open their mouths to speak. _"Okay...?"_ Renjun, not quite sure how he was supposed to respond, replied in accented English. Chenle, on the other hand, didn't bother saying anything, he simply walked towards the door to the room, ignoring the stares from the other boy as he opened the door and entered the room. Jisung took the chance to walk in right after the slightly older boy. He felt a rush of several different emotions at the sight of the older boy. He was overjoyed to finally see his Hyung again, however he wasn't sure if the sight o his malnourished body was what he wanted to see of the boy. Chenle didn't seem to struggle from the same problem, he walked straight to the bed, grabbing onto one of the unconscious boys hands, at that moment in time he was just happy to see his friend, the state he was in right now would change soon with the help of the hospital and everyone else around them, so seeing him like this was just a momentary blip.

Renjun soon entered the room, parking his small figure next to Jisung, placing a comforting arm around his shoulder and patting him. He gave a soft smile when the youngest boy looked up at him. With one last squeeze of the shoulder he walked past Jisung and looked at the eldest boy in he room, physically trying not to flinch at the sight. He had always been told that he was thin, his friends were constantly complaining that he didn't eat enough while trying to shove enough food to feed an elephant down his poor throat, but this was something different, the elder looked like he hadn't been given any proper for months.  

He was brought from his thoughts by the sound of Chenle's raised voice. Looking down he saw Mark start to open his eyes, almost laughing as the other was forced to close them again because of the bright lighting of the room. Rather than make fun of the poor boy, he quickly left the room, passing Jisung who was rushing into the space he had taken moments before.

"He's awake!" The cheerful voice made the tense boys jump, all of them looking over at him with dumb looks on their faces, something which Renjun couldn't resist rolling his eyes at before he sighed.

"I said. He. Is. Awake." he repeated, exaggerating each word, as if speaking to a group of ignorant young child. Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heels and walked back into the room.

Taeyong jumped from his seat, his hair a mess as he practically ran into the room, the other three boys right behind him. Mark, who had heard the sudden disarray looked towards them, eyes blinking at them in surprise, hands raised with a cup water perched between them paused mid-movement when he saw the his friends and brother tumble into the room, each one all-but falling over each other. 

Mark let out a choked laugh, at that time he honestly wasn't sure which one he wanted to do more, laugh at the current positions of the his friends, or cry because of how relieved he was to see a familiar, friendly, _**human**_ face.

Taeyong was the first to make it over to the bed, Chenle moving away slightly so that he was standing next to Renjun, to give the brothers some space. Taeyong immediately started to check over his brother, he knew that he wouldn't find anything that he didn't already know about, but he needed to touch his brother, he needed to physically feel that he was real, that it wasn't one of those happy dreams that will leave him devastated as soon as he woke up. 

"Hyung, don't cry"  A bony hand moved up to the oldest face, slowly wiping the tears that fell silently down the models cheeks. The sight of the now thin arm made him cry even more, the state that the his own younger brother was in now would be upsetting for even a stranger to see, let alone a family member or close friend. 

"Hmm Hyung is sorry, I'm going to phone dad and Taeil to let them know what's going on". He leaned down and kissed the boys head before walking out of the room.

"So" Jaemin spoke, slightly extending the 'o' as he did. "How are you feeling?"

Mark raised an eyebrow at that, Jaemin mentally scolding himself for the stupid question. "We should probably call the doctors now that you've woken up". Jeno's voice was quiet but was heard easily by everyone in the room. He heard a noise of agreement from Mark before he left the room, Jaemin trailing out behind him. 

Mark looked around the silent room, the first thing he noticed was how they were all just looking at him, as he they were scared that if they looked away for even one moment he would disappear. The second was that their was one exception to first observation, Donghyuck. The younger boy was looking at the floor, his eyes refusing to look at the bedridden boy. 

"Why are you all so quiet? What a way to make it awkward" The joke didn't quite catch the response he had hoped for, the others all looking at him guiltily, something which he sighed at. Mark didn't try to speak up again choosing to sit quietly in the bed until the doctor arrived. 

 

-:-:-:-

 

"We've arranged for Mr Lee to start counselling next week after he leaves the hospital, it would be best for him to attend because of possible trauma. Mark scowled, glaring at the old man until he had left the room and was no longer in sight. He sighed as he fell back into the hospital bed. 

"I'm not going to counselling, I don't even remember anything from the time when I was missing, so what exactly do I need counselling for?" Mark complained loudly, glaring when Taeil started laughing at him. 

"You look like a child, Minhyung-ah" 

"Don't call me that and I do not!"

"Do too"

"I do not!"

"Calm down you're just proving his point, and Taeil you also sound like a child". Taeyong pointed out, trying to stop the argument. The eldest boy laughed at his boyfriend before prodding at Mark's cheeks. "Tae, I guess I can't help it, hanging around with this kid makes me want to act like a child again". Taeil said, a goofy smile on his face.

"Sure Hyung, you already act like this when you're not around him, don't try and make excused". Taeil ignored the comment, choosing to try and annoy the youngest boy further.

"Mark-ah the doctors just want what is best for you". Taeyong looked towards his brother, the younger looking down at his bed. 

"I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter.  
> If you want to scream about NCT with me you can find me on twitter @IMnotYou99


	5. Catching Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Yuta Day! Today is Yuta's birthday so I decided to introduce him in this chapter. I absolutely adore Yuta and hope he enjoys his day <3 <3  
> Unfortunately I won't be able to update again on Sicheng's birthday, which is in two days, so I wish him happy birthday in advance <3 <3 <3

"You're finally getting released! Mr Lee, how are you feeling?" Johnny shoved his hand in the younger boys face as if it was really a microphone, he was putting on his best 'reporters' voice. He continued his 'report' on the boy until someone pushed him away. "No more, my son wants to live peacefully and quietly without your ugly face around" Yuta claimed, putting his hands up dramatically as if he was really defending the boy from cameras.

"Hyung, why are they even here? They're your friends, not mine". Mark whined, trying his hardest to scowl at the other boys but failing as he was almost laughing at their act. Yuta fell to floor, terrible impressions of fake sobs filling the room, Johnny patting his back in a 'comforting' way from behind. "How could you make your dad cry like this Mark Lee? This is not how we raised you!" Yuta wailed as he rolled around on the floor, only to get kicked by Taeil who had walked in on the scene.  

"We? Who's the other parent?" Johnny asked, looking down at Yuta who was cursing at Taeil from the floor. "Hmmm...Ji Hansol is the mother of course, as I am his dad" Yuta declared proudly, Taeyong scoffed from where he was sitting on the bed.

"Who's his dad? If you were his dad I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have lasted even two years growing up with you" Taeil walked carelessly over the now flailing body of Yuta. "Moon Taeil, you snake! Just wait until I tell Hansol about this" Yuta huffed, as he moved over to the bed, trying to snuggle up to Mark. "Well since I'm such a snake I have another question. Why are you the dad when you bottom to Hansol? Shouldn't you be the mom, not him?" Yuta blushed harshly at the statement, stuttering several times before hiding behind Mark, wondering if he should just die right there from embarrassment (quickly deciding he shouldn't because he needed to kill Taeil first).

"Anyway, Mark of course we are your friends, I mean we've know you since you were this small. " Johnny pinched his fingers so they were only slightly apart, Mark rolled his eyes at the exaggeration. "You're an idiot, how could he have been only that small?" Yuta said from his space next to the youngest boy. "You're just jealous that you weren't there, you shouldn't have been in Japan if you really wanted to see him grow up". Yuta pounced at Johnny "Yah I was born in Japan, and how high even are you? You came to Korea the same year that I did, you stupid Chicago brat!" The two continued to bicker.

Taeyong ignored all his friends. "Sorry Mark-ah, the youngest boys are all at school and these idiots insisted on coming to pick you up with me" Taeyong moved to sit on the other side of his younger brother, ignoring the loud denials from Johnny and Yuta. Mark nodded before looking into his brother's eyes. "Can I go and see Donghyuck today? He hasn't visited since the day I came in.." he looked down, eyebrows furrowed at the thought of his younger friend, the tanned boy had avoided visiting everyday. He had asked Jeno and Jaemin several times, but each time they had told him new excuses for the boy.

His was taken from his thought as he felt a large hand pat his head. "Cheer up, Donghyuck was just overwhelmed, he wasn't avoiding you". Hearing the conversation Yuta gave him a hard pat on the back, sending the boys body forward a little bit. "For once Johnny is actually right" Johnny made an indignant noise but didn't interrupt. "Donghyuck's been asking about you everyday, he just didn't know how to ask in person so...he didn't?"

Taeil hit Yuta on the back of the "Don't say it like that, you'll confuse him" he turned towards Mark with a warm smile on his face. "But Hyung when I think about it I also don't understand..." Yuta tried to explain but was silenced by Taeil who glared at him before turning back towards Mark. "Donghyuck feels sorry that he wasn't able to help you _that_ night, he just needs some time to try and sought out his feelings and thoughts, that's all". Taeyong nodded at his boyfriend "Taeil's right, we can go visit Donghyuck later tonight, that way you two can talk about it. Mark nodded, smiling at the older boys in appreciation. "Thanks".

"That reminds me, Taeyong, where's your dad, I hardly ever see him visit". The American boy asked looking around the room as if to prove his point. Taeyong frowned "He has work, like always" he tried to keep the anger out of his tone, looking next to him he saw Mark now had an unhappy expression on his face once again. "Anyway lets talk about something else, Yuta how's Hansol?" Yuta pouted, clearly not happy with the conversation topic "Well that jerk is too busy for me right now, I get he has work to do but he never has time for me" Yuta complained, his tone whiny. Taeil rolled his eyes at the Japanese boy.

"He takes you out pretty much everyday, what nonsense are you speaking?"

"Yeah, but he...he...wait you're right" his face brightened up as soon as he realised, his head filling with happy thoughts about his boyfriend.

"Anyway...Mark when are you going back to school?" The younger boy groaned, Taeyong answering for him "In a few weeks, he'll be moving down a grade, possibly two depending on how much he needs to catch up with". Johnny laughed as he heard the youngest member in the room complain even louder at the words.

"Oh I have some news that could cheer you up". Mark perked up, immediately listening to the American boy. "Sicheng and Kun finally managed to get enough time to come back to Korea, they said they could only visit for the weekend but they're making plans to move back here in a few months". Taeyong smiled as he saw his brothers eyes brighten at the news.

"Really? What day?"

"Friday, they'll be leaving again on Sunday. They're trying to convince Ten to come to, I don't know how they doing with that but it means Ten might be coming as well".

"In that case we should all get together for the whole weekend, it's been a long time since we've all been together so we might as well enjoy it" Yuta said, excited at seeing every one again, Mark agreed happily.

The light hearted chatter continue until a nurse came into the room, a loud cough letting her presence be known. Taeyong left to finish the paper work his father had not bothered to come and do, collecting the other boys from the room after he had finished.

They walked down the white halls loudly, earning disapproving looks from staff members. As they reached the entrance, Johnny easily walked ahead of them, turning around to face the rest of the boys as he reached the doors. "Mark Lee will now be exiting the building, on this fine day in October a historical day marks the calendar, the day that Mr Lee Minhyung leaves this stuffy hospital so he can travel the long journey back home". The other boys tried to pretend that they didn't know the other, but as soon as they left the building they were surprised by the flashing of real cameras, and the loud questions from stupid reporters. The older boy immediately stood around the youngest to try and protect him from the onslaught of flashes and questions.  It took them a while but they eventually made it to Johnny's car, and piled in. Johnny sat in drivers seat (of course), Taeil sat shotgun and the other three sat in the back, with Yuta and Taeyong blocking the reporters view of Mark, who was now sitting between them.

 

-:-:-:-

 

"Well that was an exciting ride home, wasn't it?" Nobody bothered answering the question and Johnny wasn't expecting an answer. They all climbed out of the car and through the door (which Taeyong had unlocked seconds before). It was warm inside the house, the smell homey unlike the hospital which permanently smelt too strongly of anti-septic. Everyone shrugged off their winter coats, Mark hanging up one of Taeyong's old coats which they had brought to the hospital or him, they hadn't had time to buy him a new one and none of his old ones would fit him any more.

Mark walked into the living room, Yuta and Johnny had already made themselves comfortable by spreading themselves out across the sofas. Seeing Mark in the room entrance, Yuta waved his hand, beckoned him over, moving only slightly so the younger boy could sit with him. As soon as the younger had sat down Yuta had placed his head on his lap. "So does it feel weird to be back here" Yuta asked, looking up directly at the boy. Mark shook his head. "To be honest to me it feels like I was only gone a few days while I was in hospital, even though I know it's been two years already it doesn't feel that way to me". Yuta hummed in reply, patting the youngers knee.

After a few minutes, Taeyong popped his head into the room, as he did Mark stood up, walking towards him.

"I'll make something to eat, we'll go to Donghyuck's house a little later, I know he has club activities after school so he won't be home for a few more hours". Mark nodded, slowly walking up the stairs towards his room. He opened the door to the room which still had his name painted on the front of it. Inside was a different story, the room was practically empty his things nowhere to be seen.

"They kept it there for a year but after that Taeyong couldn't bear to see it anymore." Mark spun around to see Taeil standing in the door way, a small smile on his face. "Honestly he doesn't officially live here any more either, he moved out a few months ago but keeps some stuff here so he can visit your dad occasionally". Rubbing the back of his neck he moved to stand next to Mark, who was standing by the window. The younger sighed, sitting on the the floor, Taeil copying the movement.

"Did they keep any of my things?"

"I know there's some clothes, but they probably wouldn't fit you anymore, and some other treasured items in the closet down the hall, I'm not sure about anything else so you'd have to ask your brother or dad". Mark made a small noise of acknowledgement "thanks hyung". Taeil ruffled his hair "why are you thanking me over something as small as this?"

"It's not just this, I mean for everything. I heard from Hyung how much you helped him while I was gone, so I don't think I'll ever stop being grateful to you for that". Taeil smiled at the boy.

"You know I think I kind of like seeing you like this, you actually seem your age for once" Taeil teased, lightening the mood. Mark slapped the boys arm weakly, his own smile growing. They stayed in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, both just leaning on the wall enjoying the others' presence.

"Hyung do you think I'll ever remember?"

"Honestly?...I hope not" Mark looked over at the boy, eyebrows raised in question.

"Why?"

"From what I heard, what I saw...what you went through was not something you would ever want to remember, and because of that I never want you to remember. From now on you need to be happy and for that to happen it would be best if you completely forgot what happened".

Mark nodded, looking up at the older boy. Taeil noticing the stare tried to smile for the other, but it came out as more of a grimace. He stood slowly, dusting the invisible dust off of himself. "I'm going to head back down with the others, come down when you're are ready". He rushed out the room before the younger boy even had a chance to reply.

 

-:-:-:-

 

He rang the door bell, politely moving back a few steps to wait until it opened, he turned slightly to wave to Taeyong, the older boy had promised he would pick him up in an hour while they were in the car on their way there. A familiar middle aged woman opened the door, as soon as she processed who was standing in front of her, she moved forward and pulled the boy into a hug.

"Oh my, Mark! I heard you were back, and how happy I am to see you again, now let me look at you". She pulled him back so he was an arms length away, her eyes scanning over him before tutting. "Now, now this is not acceptable you are far too thin, we can't have that, now can we?" Mark shook his head fondly at the elder lady. "Now it's my fault, you must be freezing lets get you inside now" she dragged him into the warm house.

"I heard all about what happened from my Hyuck, how are you feeling?" She continued to fuss over him. "I'm fine Mrs Lee, I'm just glad to be back".

"Well we're are also over joyed to see your handsome face again, especially knowing you are safe and recovering well". She spoke happily as she walked into the kitchen. "Now I know you didn't come here just to see me, Hyuck is in his room so you can go on right up, I'll bring you a hot drink in a few minutes". Mark bowed before heading upstairs.

In the hall he stopped at the second door in, not even bothering to knock before walking in. Donghyuck was laying on his bed, phone in hand as he looked up at Mark in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Well that's a bit rude, you say that as if you have been visiting me daily, not avoiding me". Mark said playfully, Donghyuck looked down, guilt written on his face. "Yah I didn't come here to make you feel bad! I just want to find out what's wrong".

"Nothing is wrong".

"Sure and I'm Yuta's long lost Sister".

Donghyuck looked up at that, an unimpressed look on his face, a look which was easily returned by Mark. The younger boy sighed, gesturing for Mark to sit down, which the older boy complied to.

"So what's so wrong that you can't visit me?"

There was a long pause, Donghyuck stayed silent for a few minutes before he finally answered.

"I don't deserve to. If I didn't leave you that day none of this would of ever happened."

Mark slapped the boys arm. Hard. Donghyuck looked at the boy, eyes round and surprised at the unexpected response.

"What th-"

"You're meant to be the smart one. That day you ran and you saved Nana, if you didn't do that he could have been severally injured that day, possibly killed. I ran off by myself, so if anyone is to be blamed for what happend, it's me." Donghyuck tried to protest again but Mark continued again. "No, I'm serious Donghyuck. I won't let you blame yourself over something so stupid. I need you to act like my fun, best friend Donghyuck because everyone else is already treating me like I'm made of glass, I'm not fragile and I'm not going to shatter if somebody pushes me. You of all people should understand me". 

They sat there, communicating through their eyes for a few moments before Donghyuck leaned forward and gently brought Mark into a gentle hug. "I'm sorry, this is the only time I'll apologise so please accept it, after this I will forever let go of the blame, I promise". Mark leaned back so he could look into the youngers eyes.

"I forgive you".

A knock the door interrupted them, both boys properly separating and blinking back the unshed tears as Donghyuck mom walked into the room, a tray with two cups balanced on it. "Sorry to disturb you two, I thought you'd want a drink. I'll be down stairs so just holler if you need anything else". Donghyuck groaned at his mother, the older lady ignoring her son as he walked out, sending a wink at the boys before closing the door.

"Well at least your mom doesn't treat me any differently" Mark shrugged. Donghyuck rolled his eyes "that's because she always babied you so she doesn't need to start treating you any differently.

For the next forty odd minutes the boy continued to talk about everything, mostly Donghyuck trying to catch Mark up on anything he considered important. A call from Donghyuck mum telling Mark that Taeyong had arrived, interrupted them. They gave each other a quick hug, before Mark moved down the stairs and followed his older brother out of the door. Once he was inside the car, she turned and waved at Donghyuck and his mother who were standing by the door.  

"Did you sort things out with Donghyuck?" Taeyong spoke up as they started to drive away from the house. "Yeah, we're all good now. Thanks Hyung" Mark smiled at the model, who smiled back him before turning his attention towards the road. Mark leaned his head on the window, eyes closing as he drifted into a light sleep.

 

Outside the car was dark, a few steps away a street lamp, a shadowy figure watched as the car drove away.  An impossibly wide smile drawn on it's face. It stayed their until the car was out of view, as soon as it was gone the figure started to fade away into the darkness, only the yellow eyes seemed to be stay visible for a few moments longer before they too faded away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't edited this so if there are any mistakes, I hope you forgive me.  
> I love and appreciate anyone who leaves comments and kudos, I seriously can't explain how happy every single one makes me <3
> 
> Remember if you ever want to fan girl/boy about NCT you can find me on twitter @IMnotYou99. I am up to shouting about them at anytime ;)


	6. Like Old Times

Chaos.

The living room was in complete chaos. An all out war was happening, every person armed with a pillow as they all stood in different places in the room eyeing each other. Sicheng and Yuta were using the sofa as a fort, both ducking behind it ready to attack if any one got too close. Johnny was holding their ~~very expensive~~ glass lamp, swinging it towards Ten who kept trying to approach him, pillow in either hand. Chenle, Jisung and Jaemin had tackled Hansol and were hitting him non-stop with their cushy 'weapons', Jeno and Donghyuck were standing guard to make sure Kun, Doyoung or Jaehyun, who were standing close by, wouldn't try and help the unfortunate boy.

Mark stood in the doorway watching with Renjun, the latter cheering on the fights as he stood back and watched. Mark burst out laughing when he saw Kun dive behind the sofa only to be mercilessly attacked by the younger Chinese boy who was not happy that his fort had been breached.

Mark couldn't remember the last time they had all been together like this as it had been such a long time, but seeing this scene gave him a pretty good idea of why they couldn't do it often (there was also the fact that more than half of them were attending university or had jobs so it was impossible to visit often). Despite the mess they were making, Mark thought the scene was heart-warming, although he was sure Taeyong would disagree later when the older boy got back from work and had to clean it up, but that was a bridge to cross later so he didn't let it bother him.

As he continued to watch the mess happening in the living room, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, moving away to a quieter place the house he went and answered the phone. "What's up Hyung?" he heard an aggravated sigh through the phone. 

"Can you please go and get Hansol and Jaehyun? They have a modelling job, it started an hour ago and they're not here" Taeyong spoke, his tone eerily calm, Mark felt himself shiver and prayed for the lives of his two older friends. "Yeah sure, I'll go remind them now. See you later Hyung". after he heard his brother respond he quickly hung up the phone, rushing to the living room. When he got there the noise level was too loud to even consider trying to talk over. _'There is only one sure way I know to stop them'_ Mark though, cocky smile on his face as he breathed in.

"Shit my dad is due home in like five minutes" Mark shouted, he knew he had succeeded why the whole room fell silent, fourteen heads turned towards him. Kun, who had been standing next to the door, hit Mark on the back of the head "no cursing" he scolded the younger boy. Mark saw the panic brewing in the boys eyes as they looked around the room, he decided to reassure them before they started to actually panic as they would probably just end up making more mess than they already had. 

"Just kidding, Taeyong Hyung called, he said that Hansol Hyung and Jaehyun Hyung are late for a job" he said, rubbing the spot on his head where Kun had hit him.

A sigh of relief went around the room, until the two mentioned boys caught on to what had been said, Mark swore he could see the colour drain out of their faces and they both rushed to get up, Hansol having more trouble as Jisung and Chenle had both sat on top of him to stop his escape. The rest of the boys watched in amusement as the two models rushed into their coats, hats and scarfs and' ~~messily~~ gracefully made it out of the door.

After the two had left the others decided to calm down, and clean up their mess _(read: picked up the cushions and left the rest for Taeyong to clean up later)._ They sat around the living, tv switched on as a random music show played in the background, Ten occasionally standing up to dance small parts of the songs before sitting back down again. For the most part they just sat around chatting, honestly they were all hungry but some of their best cooks were out at work so they just waited until someone returned to save their stomachs.

Their saving grace came after and hour, Taeil arrived back from his part time at the small book shop in town. As soon as he walked through the door be was bombarded by a pile of hungry boys (the majority of which were already adults) asking to be fed, he rolled his eyes at the sight and asked for a assistant or two. Mark raised his hand but then put it back down after receiving several disapproving looks from people in the room. Donghyuck sighed and pulled Doyoung into the kitchen to help out, the older whining slightly but didn't even try to escape from the younger.

"So Mark I heard you started school again, happy to be back?" Mark scrunched up his nose in distaste, looking at Sicheng who had asked the question, the Chinese boy put his hands up in surrender "wow, I guess not". The younger boy groaned. "I don't know what is better, being taken down to first year with Jisung or having everyone avoid me like I'm a disease" he spat out sarcastically, glaring at the air when thinking of his school life. Renjun pat him on the back in sympathy "at least you can still hang out with us during breaks....and you have Jisung and Chenle in some of your classes. It could be worse". 

Mark nodded as the others tried to cheer the boy up in encouragement.  "Just be smart, I know it's hard for you but if you are they said they will move you up to our year, so you can spend the rest of your time us" Jaemin said, dodging the pillow that was thrown at him but not able to spot Jeno in time before the slightly older boy hit him on the back, he fell forward slightly moaning about being how everyone hated him. Jeno rolled his eyes, ignoring the complaints from the boy next to him as he turned to smile at Mark "Nana is right, if you work hard they will bump you up a year so you can study with us." Mark nodded, before he even had the chance to speak Taeil called them.

 

-:-:-:-

 

"I'm home!"

Mark walked into the hallway to greet his older brother, the model greeting him back with a smile as he took off his outdoor wear. The two walked into the living room where Taeil was sat drinking a warm cup of coffee, while reading some sort of novel. "Where is everybody else?" Taeyong asked looking around the  empty living room, eyebrow twitching slightly as he saw the mess of plates, and his dads lamp? He shook his head, too tired to even care who had moved it. He carefully picked it up from the floor and placed it safely back in its original place. "Did you have fun today?" he started to pick the dirty plates off of the floor as he spoke.

"Yeah I guess so, it was nice to just be with everyone again" he watched as the older took the plates back into the kitchen to wash up. Taeil put the book down and turned so he could see the youngest boy. "I can't say we can do it often but we'll get together every time we can now that your back" Mark felt his curiosity peak at that "Now that I'm back, didn't you guys not meet up much while I was gone?" The younger noticed how the blonde suddenly found his lap the most interesting thing in the room as he stared downwards.

"I-I don't know if I should say this but...." Mark found himself leaning forward, not wanting to potentially miss what the older male was going to say. "When you disappeared, things changed. I'm not even talking about just our group, I'm saying the whole town was shaken by your disappearance, so many families started discussing moving away, afraid that their own children would be next, it was pretty terrifying. Ten, Sicheng and Kun's parents all told them to return back home, which is why Ten is living back in Thailand and Sicheng and Kun were back in China".

Mark nodded and gestured for the other to continue. Taeil sighed but continued regardless "Honestly there were arguments, like big arguments which left our group scattered. Obviously I stuck by Taeyong, and he insisted we keep an eye on the youngest boys but other than that we didn't speak much. After a year Taeyong joined the modelling agency and met up with Hansol again and after a few months Jaehyun as well, which got them back on talking terms. I guess throughout the year we all started to try and contact each other again but when you returned that really got them back here again".

Mark was surprised by the story, when they had all been together early that day it seemed like nothing had changed. Regret filled him as he thought of how much his friends must have struggled but Taeil quickly intercepted the thoughts, understanding the cause of the younger boys darkening features. "Lee Minhyung I know that look, don't you even dare!" the elder boy commanded as he looked at the younger disapprovingly. Taeyong popped his head into the room after hearing the elder boy raise his voice "something wrong?" Taeil shook his head sending the other a meaningful look, Taeyong slowly nodded his head before excusing himself back into the kitchen.

Taeil stood up and moved to where the other was sitting so he could sit next to him. Once he was seated he grasped the younger boys hands in his own. "We've talked about this before, you can't blame yourself for a situation where you were the victim. What happened was something no one could have predicted or stopped. We broke away from each other because of how much we all cared for you, no one could forget and in the end we all went our separate ways hoping to move on. We couldn't. You know why?" Taeil stroked the younger boys hand with his thumb as he spoke softly, Mark shook his head at the question not looking up as he felt his eyes begin to to tear up. 

"It's because of you. They came back because they couldn't just move on, how could we? Every single one of us is important and to lose one was devastating but in the end we are part of a group, we grew up together and we'll continue to do so." Taeil ruffled the younger boys hair playfully as he stood up.

"Cheer up!"

 

-:-:-:-

 

_He was running. From what, he wasn't sure._

_The area was familiar, the bright lights of the different rides, vibrant and happy as they blurred in his vision as he ran._

_Distorted laughter of different pitches and tones echoed around the park._

_Dull images of people standing around the place scared him, each one seemed to be staring at him, ready to attack if he dared to stop or slow his movements._

_Mark kept running and running, his face covered in sweat and feet full of blisters. He ended up at the bumper cars, each one was swirling around dangerously. He found himself stuck, his body not moving as he watched the blurs of colour collide with each other. Mark almost found the site pretty -almost. what stopped him was the familiar young boy standing in middle of the mess._

_Renjun._

_The young Chinese boy was standing in the middle of the cars and Mark felt his heart jump every time a car came even slightly close to him. He tried to call for him but found himself unable too. He tried to scream, to shout, to cry, but he couldn't make a noise. He grew frustrated when the only thing he could do was watch._

_And watch he did._

_He watched every second, he saw as the bright red bumper car sped forward, he was the young boys fragile body go flying through the air, hitting the metal railings with a loud 'crack'. His body stood frozen as he stared at the body of his friend in horror, his neck was bent at a weird angle, obviously broken, as blood began to pool around his head._

_His not sure why but he felt the need to look up. Standing a few feet away from the lifeless body of his friend was a dark shadow, familiar bright yellow eyes peered at him as it approached his friend. Mark harshly shook his head, he tried to shout but it only came out in his own mind._

 

_'Stop'_

 

_'Stay away from him'_

 

_'Don't touch him'_

 

_Mark felt his thought become more frantic as he watched the creature slowly bend down next to his friend. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly._

 

**_'This is just a dream'_ **

 

**_'I want to wake up'_ **

 

**_'I want to wake up!'_ **

 

**_'I WANT TO WAKE UP!"_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> I know this update is super late, I had serious writers block so I'm sorry if this chapter sucks ;-;
> 
> I swear I am always writing this late. Although for once it is not even 12am so I'm pretty proud of myself. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always super loved and appreciated! I'll try and update faster this time!


	7. One of Many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Gore, a lot of blood and Character death.

Mark felt someone shaking him, calling his name as his eyes flew open looking wildly around the room.

_'It was just a dream'._

His heart was beating wildly in his chest as he finally managed to look around him, his dad was sitting in front of him, the man was wearing a pair of dark blue nightwear showing Mark the older man had actually chosen to sleep at home instead of a the station like he usually would, his calloused hands still rested on his youngest sons shoulders as he looked into his eyes, mouth moving as if to talk. After a few seconds Mark realised the older man was talking, his mind started to register the words being said.

"Minhyung, are you okay?" Mark hated being called by that name. The older man turned towards the figure by the door, not waiting or expecting the other boy to answer his question. "Tae, go down stairs and grab him some water please" the other nodded and moved from the doorway. His dad turned back to him, reaching out and brought him into a hug, stroking his youngest sons head.  Mark heard words of comfort being spoken quietly into his ears, his body relaxing unconsciously as he listened.

Mark pulled slightly away from his dad, looking him in the eye. He felt confused and surprised to see the other man, particularly acting....well like a father, he hadn't seen much of his dad ever since he returned and when he did the man seemed to be giving the cold shoulder.

"I-I'm fine...it was just a nightmare. I don't even remember it anymore" Mark lied, part of him didn't want to worry his dad, and the other part just didn't feel comfortable sharing the dream he had, especially with a man who had practically gone M.I.A just so he could avoid him. His dad went to speak but was interrupted by Taeyong who walked into the room, glass of water in hand and a worried Taeil hovering behind him.

Mark watched, distressed, as his father's face return to the cold stony look, the only look that always seemed to greet Mark whenever he was with his father. The older man stood from the bed, ignoring Mark as the youngest boy called for him, he pat Taeyong on the shoulder as he walked out of the room. Taeil huffed at the interaction and walked -stomped- over to Mark's bed before hovering around him like a worryied mother.

"You had a nightmare?" Mark just nodded as his older brother handed him the water, he drank it all without stopping, sighing when he felt the cold liquid travel down his throat.

"Want to talk about it?" 

"Maybe tomorrow...I don't think I can right now" Taeyong nodded in understanding "You can tell us whenever you're ready" Mark threw a small smile at Taeil. Looking towards the window he noticed it was still dark out, frowning he looked back towards the older boys both whom were just watching him, concerned. "Seriously? I'm fine. What time is it?" Taeyong sighed but pulled his phone from his back pocket, screen lighting up his face as he checked.

"3:14"

Mark groaned. "Sorry, I woke you up didn't I?" Taeil rolled his eyes and shoved the younger boy lightly. "Yeah, but I don't mind I'm used to being up in this time, so is Taeyong so don't even think about acting up...you silly child" He muttered the last part, chuckling when the other hit his arm.

"Well Kiddo you should probably go back to sleep, you have school tomorrow" Taeyong chuckled when he heard Mark groan in distaste. "Why did I say I wanted to go back?"

"So you don't have to stay back another year?"

Mark groaned again and flopped back down onto his pillow. "Good night" Taeyong and Taeil said before moving to go back to their room.

"Can I just stay home tomorrow?" Mark called after them, he heard a chorus of 'no' come from the hallway so he huffed and shut his eyes, hoping he would be able to get some more sleep before morning arrived.

 

That sleep never came.

 

For the next couple of hours the teen turned restlessly in bed, bloody images of a familiar face flashing in his mind every time he tried to close his eyes. After only two hours Mark felt bile rise in his throat as a particularly horrid scene played in his mind, he could see as the possessed ride hit his friend, he could hear the cracking of breaking bones and he could smell the blood in the air, everything seemed so real.

Mark flung himself out of bed and flew to the bathroom, he could do nothing as he threw up the meal he had eaten last night, the rancid smell and burn of his throat present as he continued until he was just retching into the toilet bowl. He didn't hear someone came into the room but felt a comforting hand rubbing his back, Taeyong sitting behind him, the older boy was already dressed as he was up early getting ready for a photo shoot.

Taeyong helped the younger boy up handing him some tissue as he flushed the chain, he then proceeded to get some water for the other to rinse his mouth with.

"You okay?"

Mark shook his head, the action making him slightly dizzy. Taeyong placed his hand on the other boy's shoulders and steered him out of the room. "Okay Kiddo let's get you back into bed.

After Taeyong had gotten the younger boy back into bed he sat down next to him, brushing sweaty bangs from his face, frowning at the temperature. "How did we not notice this earlier?" he muttered quietly to himself. "Don't worry about school tomorrow, I'll call them later to let them know about your absence. Just get some more sleep for now." Mark nodded his eyes finally drifting closed and soon falling into a light sleep, the comfort of his brother's hand in his seemed to stop the nightmares that had been plaguing him all night.

Once Taeyong was sure the younger boy was asleep he slipped his hand out of the others grasp and moved quietly out of the room, back into his own. When he opened the door he was greeted by a sleep, and slightly disorientated looking Taeil, the older boy appeared to be trying to blink the sleepiness away. Taeyong found a small smile easily making its way onto his face as he watched his partner rub at his eyes, much like a child.

"Work?"

Taeyong hummed, crossing the room in a few step and leaning down to give the other a kiss, one the other boy easily returned. Pulling away slightly so he could look at the other he told the older boy about Mark. "I'm going to excuse him from school today, his sick."

"Sick?"

Taeyong sighed, sitting down next to Taeil, the older boy sitting up slightly so his back was leaning on the head board of the bed. "Yeah, he was throwing up and he has a fever".

Taeil nodded sympathetically "I guess that explains the nightmare".

"I guess so..." the younger boy didn't sound as convinced. He leaned for another kiss "I have to go, I'm pretty sure I'm already late"

"Go, your manager is going to angry." Taeyong went to open his mouth but was quick to shut it when Taeil pointed an accusing finger at him. "Don't even think about skipping, this photo-shoot is important. I can take a day off and look after him." Taeyong frowned but agreed.

"Now go before your manager comes here and kicks up a fuss" Taeyong yelps as the older boys smacks his butt, wiggling his eyebrow with a cheeky smile present on his face. The younger rolled his eyes but couldn't stop the amused laugh that left him as he walked from the room.

 

-:-:-:-

 

_They were running down the stairs, all of them were out of breath. He could see the metal gates looming ahead._

_'Just a bit more, we're almost there'._

_The group were half way down the when they felt the stairs move beneath them, each of them gripped onto the side railings to stop themselves from falling._

_"We can't stop here, we have to keep moving or we'll be right back in the park!" he heard Jeno should as they all tried to run down. Their efforts got them nowhere, no matter how fast they tried to run the escalator seemed to be faster, pulling them all back into the park. When they reached the top Mark quickly dragged them off when he heard the escalators release a loud groan, a few seconds later the whole structure feel leaving a giant, bottomless pit in the ground._

_Mark felt a tug at his arm, turning to the side he saw Jaemin gripping onto his arm._

_"Mark, I'm scared"._

_Mark pat the younger's back. "Don't worry Nana, I'll protect you, all of you" he said as he looked at the rest of scared group of boys._

_"We need to find another way out, it's too dangerous to just stay here" the boys all nodded in agreement as they looked around at their surroundings._

_From the corner of his eye Mark saw a shadow flash by them. He looked towards the tents and slowly moved towards them to investigate._

_"Hello?"_

_Receiving no answer he tried again as be moved forward._

_"Hello? Is someone there?"_

_He reached out towards the tents opening but stopped short when a shrill scream rang through the park._

_Mark spun around._

_They were all gone. Every one of his friends had disappeared._

_Panicking, Mark paced towards where he had left them. On the ground were splats of red, looking right he saw a trail of bright red. Mark gulped, the only thing that could have made those Marks were if someone was dragged away while bleeding._

_Looking around helplessly Mark settled for following the trail, staying a distance away so he wouldn't have to focus on it. After what seemed like hours of walking he found himself standing outside the arcade, slowly he walked towards the glass doors and pushed them open._

_The inside was bright, the lights from the different machines were shining brightly and the music was far too happy for Mark's current situation._

_Looking around he found the trail continue. Walking around he saw Jaemin's body slumped against the high striker, his head resting on the surface. He went to move to the boy when he noticed the dark figure standing next to his friend._

_That figure._

_The shadow man. The man that hurt Renjun. The man who had been plaguing his dreams._

_The man he was sure was responsible for his disappearance._

_Looking closely he noticed the mallet in the man's hand. He tried stepping closer but froze when the man raised the weapon. Mark put his hands out in surrender._

_"Please, don't hurt him" Mark tried to stay calm but flinched as he heard his voice crack. The man in front of him smirked, yellow eyes lit up in glee as he watched the younger boy fight his emotions._

_"What will you do if I don't?"_

_Mark gulped hearing the daunting voice, a voice he had never heard before and yet one that seemed so familiar that it scared him._

_"I-I'll do anything, just please let him go"_

_The man seemed to contemplate this for a second before a wicked smile grew on his face._

_"Ding"._

_Mark looked at the man, confused as to what he meant._

_"Wrong answer" Before Mark could even process what he had said the man swung the mallet up into the air before throwing it down directly onto the youngest boy._

_Blood._

_Mark could see blood drip everywhere, as the mallet came down it seemed to just burst. He felt sick, he didn't even process the ding as the game was won by the strength of the hit. He could only watch as the man brought the weapon back up and slammed it back down._

_His knees grew weak beneath him as he fell to the floor, his eyes never leaving the bloody sight in front of him._

_A dark chuckle rang through the room. "You have to know how to win the game Mark, this time you lose"._

_The man started to fade but not before saying "Let's play again some_ _time Mark"._

_The boy sat on the ground staring at the bloody mess in front of him._

_"N-Nana?"_

_He weakly crawled towards the mess. The boy's body seemed untouched other than it now being decorated by the bright red of its own blood. Reaching forward, Mark placed a hand on the shoulder._

_"J-Jaeminie?"_

_Mark felt as a sob wracked his whole body, warm tears spilling down his cheeks._

_"Jaemin!"_

 

-:-:-:-

 

"Hey guys. You here to visit Mark?"

Taeil chuckled as he was answered by various different 'yes'. Four pairs of feet shuffled into the house all taking their shoes off and slipping into their own pair of slippers -every person seemed to have left their own supply of daily items in the house, something which was present in any one of their houses.

"Wait" all for boys froze, turning towards the elder boy with what he supposed was supposed to be looks of innocence. "Aren't you supposed to be at school" he asked raising an eyebrows as the four boys avoided eye contact. Donghyuck was the first to speak up.

"No?"

"Oh, please enlighten me as to why not"

There was silence, Taeil could see the gears in each of their brains turning as each boy tried to think of a plausible excuse, Jaemin was the first to break it, stuttering out an lame excuse of "it was cancelled?".

"Oh I see well as long as you sighed out before coming here, I would hate for your parents to blame us for you bunking school". Taeil answered sarcastically. The boys stood their awkwardly not knowing what to do. Taeil chuckled "you can go, I won't tell anyone that you were here"

He heard four sighs of relief and hushed curses as the boys walked down the hallway, before they arrived and stumbled up the stairs.

"He's probably still sleeping..." Taeil tried to call after to them but trailed off when he noticed none of them were going to listen to him, instead he sighed and returned to the kitchen to prepare snacks for the boys.

 

Upstairs the boys were peeking through the gap in the door, Mark was sleeping oblivious to the arguments about who got to wake up. There was a cry of pain from Jaemin as Donghyuck barged through them and into the room, leaving behind three other grumbling boys.

He approached the bed, a cheeky smile in place as he thought of how to wake the boy, the smile fell when he heard a small whimper come from the boy, looking at his face he noticed it was flushed a light pink despite the cold pad resting on his forehead. Frowned he shushed the boys by the door, the boys ignoring him until they notice the concerned look on his face.

Jeno pat Jaemin on the shoulder.

"Go and get Taeil-hyung."

The slightly younger boy nodded and ran down the hallway towards the stairs. Jeno pushed the door open, he and Renjun both entering, from his side he heard a small concerned noise from Renjun, the older boy walking to the bed and gently touching the sick boy's cheeks. "He's really hot" Donghyuck made a noise of agreement, his eyes never leaving Mark's flushed face. 

"Is he having a nightmare?" Jeno asked cautiously as he watched his older friend mumble something, a look of pure distressed painted on his face. "Should we wake him?" Renjun asked, not sure what they were supposed to do. "No let's just wait for Taeil-hyung".

"What's wrong?" Taeil frowned as he walked into the room, Jaemin following slightly behind him.

"His fever is really high and we think he's having a nightmare" Donghyuck spoke first, Jeno and Renjun nodding along to the information. Taeil walked to the bed, his frown deepening as he watched his young charge, the boy had tears falling down his cheeks something which hadn't been happening the last time he was with the younger. "Renjun-ah, can you go and refill the water?" The younger boy nodded and picked up the bowl of water sitting by the bed before rushing out of the room.

Leaning down Taeil shook the boys shoulders "Mark, wake up." after a few shakes the boys eyes shot open as he sat up abruptly, a loud "Jaemin!" leaving his mouth. The shout surprised the occupants of the room. Renjun, who was returning with the water, almost dropped the bowl in surprise of the shout.

"Whoa there, what happened?"

"Jaemin! Is he okay?" Mark asked frantically. "I'm fine Hyung" Jaemin said, confused, he saw his older friend's eyes land of him, taking in his appearance before he let out a deep breath.

"Mark-ah can you tell us what happened?" Mark shook his head, eyes closed tightly. Taeil reassured the boy that it was okay, he could speak about it whenever he was ready before standing up. "I'm going to ring Tae, I'll be back in a minute. Can one of you just change the towel on his head, please?" Donghyuck nodded as they all watched the eldest boy leave the room.

Donghyuck quickly did as he was asked, his hand lingering a few seconds more before he moved away. "So...did something happen to me in your dream?" Jaemin asked trying to sound casual, but was hit by Jeno who sent him a look of warning. Mark looked down towards his lap, refusing to answer, noticing the atmosphere Renjun quickly spoke up "it's okay, you don't have to tell us anything that happened". Hearing this Mark looked up but regret it as flashes of his prior dream came to mind as he looked at his friend.

Within half an hour they managed to cheer Mark up a bit, talking about all things happy and stupid to take his mind away from his dream.

 

-:-:-:-

 

"Taeyong that's great, go and change into the next set. You're up after Jaehyun".

He moved towards the changing area when he was called by Hansol, he walked over to the older boy. "What's up?"

"Your phone keeps ringing, I wouldn't have said anything but it's Taeil, it seems like he really needs to talk to you".

"Okay, thanks Hyung". Taeyong grabbed his phone and called Taeil, the elder picking up after the first ring".

_"Sorry I was in the middle of shooting"._

_**"It's okay, when do you finish?"** _

_"I don't know, another hour or two I guess. Is something wrong?"_

He heard his lover sigh through the phone. _**"Hmm Mark's fever went back up, he had a nightmare but I woke him so he should be fine for now. I just thought you'd want to know".**_

_"I'll be home soon, I'm just going to grab my stuff"._

_**"Tae, don't bother just finish work. Mark is fine".** _

_"What was that hyung? I can't hear you I think the connection is going"._

_**"Lee Taeyong, don't you dare hang up on me!"** _

_"What was that? I'll speak to you when I get back, love you babe"._

_**"Taeyo-"** _

Taeyong hung up the phone. Turning he saw Hansol, eyebrow raised in question. "Something wrong?"

"Mark's sick. Hyung I'm just going to speak to the director, see you tomorrow".

He quickly moved away, waving slightly as he moved.

 

 

Walking through the door he was met by an unimpressed Taeil. "Hyung, I can explain". Taeil didn't say anything but gestured for him to continue.

"You know how worried I get about Mark, hearing he had gotten worse I couldn't just stay there. I know you said he was fine but I couldn't stay there without seeing for myself".

Taeil's face softened as he listened to the younger boy, walking towards him, he wrapped his arms round his neck and pulled him into a light kiss before leaning back slightly. "I understand Tae, did you at least speak to the director?"

"Yeah, he said it's fine, but I owe him" Taeyong chuckled as he thought of the eccentric man.

"Well since your here now you should go upstairs".

Taeyong nodded and moved up the steps. He walked until he was standing in the doorway to the room, he smiled as he saw the bright look on his younger brother's otherwise flushed face. "I told you, you didn't have to rush home" Taeil said from behind him.

Turning, Taeyong pinched his cheeks causing the elder boy to slap his hands away. "As usual you were right, but I'm happy to see him look a bit more cheerful". Taeil hummed in agreement as they both turned to watch the boys in the room.

"We should probably sent them home, their parents are probably waiting for them, they skipped school so I don't want them to get into any more trouble".

Taeyong nodded "yeah you're probably right"

"You did say that I'm always right after all" Taeil said cheekily as Taeyong rolled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> It's been a long time, I hope you all had a great Christmas.  
> Happy new year!  
> I'm sorry it's been over a month since my last update T-T  
> School has set me so much work and I'm behind so I don't know when I'll next be able to update, I'll try as soon as possible.
> 
> Pandi (>^.^)>~<3


	8. Unpleasant Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Possession and cursing

The room was lit up by the small desk lamp, the scratching of pen on paper filled the otherwise silent room. Mark sat at his desk, head bobbing to the music playing through his earphones. A chemistry text book was splayed out as he answered questions for his homework.

It had been a month since he had dreamed of Jaemin, he was relieved that he had not been plagued with many of the dreams since. Life almost seemed normal, he was quickly catching up on his schoolwork, if he kept it up he was sure he would be able to move up a year. The other students were still avoiding him, but really he didn't mind, he had Jisung and Chenle in a few of his classes (hopefully soon he'd be moved so there was a larger chance of having someone in his class, after all Donghyuck, Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun were all in the year above) and the rest of them sat with him during lunch so he didn't mind anyone else avoiding him (even if it was the majority of the student population).

The worst time was night, despite not having many of the dreams he still fears sleeping, the idea that he would have to watch another friend die was too much. A little relieve came from Mark not having to watch out for Jeno and Jaemin as much, they might not have noticed it for themselves but they had been so touchy for the last few weeks, Mark was sure they would look after each other, no matter what happened.

Mark stopped writing, he leaned back in his chair closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair to try and relax, he focused on Wendy's calming vocals which filtered through his ear phones to try and stop his mind from over thinking. After a few minutes of just sitting there he opened his eyes, almost flying out of his chair when he saw Donghyuck standing by the door.

"What the hell, Donghyuck!" Mark exclaimed clutching at his chest to try and calm his heart. "You also scared me to death"

"Sorry" Donghyuck rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly but quickly recovered, apparently not feeling like he should be taking the blame. "I did knock, it's not my fault you had your earphones in" He said shrugging the incident off. Mark sat there in disbelief for a minute but then rolled his eyes, remembering it was Donghyuck he was speaking to, he shouldn't have been surprised by the response.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"What? Am I not allowed to visit my best friend for absolutely no reason?"

"It's not that you're not allowed, but you don't do things for no reason. So, tell me what I can do to help you?"

Donghyuck gasped in utter disbelief. "How dare you, peasant. What do you take me for?"  
"Lee Donghyuck" the elder deadpanned. "Now tell me what you want or leave."

Donghyuck huffed but leaned forward, a mischievous smile presenting itself as he did. "I'm on a mission"

Mark raised an eyebrow, leaning his head on his hand as he looked at the boy. "Right, so what is that mission?"

"Now that would be telling, but it involves you giving up on that-" he leaned over slightly to see the work on the desk, scrunching his nose up in disgust at the subject "-chemistry work and going out with me" Donghyuck said, as if there was no room for argument.

They looked at each other for a few seconds before Mark slid his earphones back in and turned back to his work, leaving Donghyuck looking absolutely scandalised at the action. After recovering from the shock of Mark's defiance, he surged forward, yanking the earphones for the older boys ears and spinning the chair around so they looking directly at each other. Mark felt his face heat up when he realised how close they were, jerking back so fast he was sure he gave himself whiplash.

Donghyuck scoffed at the older boy "Wow, don't hurt yourself" he said as he moved away from the blushing older boy, leaning back folding his arms to his chest, smug look on his face. "Let's play a simple game of rock, paper, scissors. If you win I'll leave you alone, if I win you have to come with me" Donghyuck said, ignoring the constant vibrations from his phone in his pocket.

Mark frowned, he knew this was a trick, everyone knew that the one thing he couldn't do was win stupid games like this (well that and cooking, he wasn't even allowed in the kitchen after almost setting the place on fire), but he couldn't reject the deal either, he would be taunted non-stop until he agreed anyway. "Fine" he agreed begrudgingly.

Hesitantly he stuck his arm out, hand clenched into a fist.

"Rock, Paper, scissors!" The game was fast, the results to be expected. Mark had his hand spread out as paper, Donghyuck grinned victoriously as he held out scissors.

"I won!" Donghyuck noted coolly, clearly not surprised in the slightest. Mark sighed, mentally cursing his horrible in these games. "Yeah, yeah. I got it, so where are we going?" Mark asked unenthusiastically, his back straightening and his body shivering when Donghyuck chuckled darkly.

"On a date"

Mark raised his eyebrows at that, Donghyuck had gone through all that trouble for a date? Mark wasn't buying it, not in the slightest.

"Right....and I'm guessing that date involves my other five boyfriends as well as you since I can hear them talking to Taeyong downstairs" Donghyuck pouted, unhappy that his teasing had been cut short. "Fine" he said, exasperated. "We wanted to all hang out at the old skate park, just like we used to".

"You could have just told me that from the beginning you know. I'll go, it's been a while since we all hung out together when we are not at school or at home" Mark said leaning back in his chair, pen dangling from his fingers as he looked at the boy sitting across from him. Donghyuck felt a smile tug on his lips, he wasn't sure the older boy would agree that easily.

Mark stood from his chair, stretching his tired muscles as he did. "Well let's go and collect the rest of them from down stairs then, they are probably eating all my food anyway". Mark spoke, his voice filled with nothing but endearment at the thought of his friends.

Leaving the room, Mark walked lazily down the stairs, Donghyuck following slowly behind him as they both made their way to the noisy kitchen. The room was full of laughter as Taeyong and Taeil were placing food down on the table for the group of noisy boys sitting around it.

Mark coughed loudly as he reached the doorway, the noise gaining the attention from some of the quieter boys in the room, namely Renjun, Jisung, Jeno and his brother. Jisung quickly waved him over when he saw them, a gummy smile on his face as he looked at his older friends. "Mark-ah, are you going with us?" Jeno asked as the other boy sat down next to him, ignoring the pointed look he received from Jaemin.

"Well I was, but you guys seem far more occupied by the Kimbap on the table" Mark said sarcastically. Jeno laughed, eye smile in full bloom as he reached across the table for another piece of food, only proving the older boys point further. "Taeyong hyung does make the best food" he spoke, his voice deadly serious, but his eyes sparkling in mirth.

"I won't fight you on that one" Mark said, his laugh loud and happy. Taeyong smiled hearing the noise, he always did love his brother's laugh, and it was good to hear it sounding so sincere again.

The meal was lively, Mark missed it. He couldn't remember the last time there had been so much positive energy around. Ever since he had returned everyone had been so careful, in a sense he was thankful but he also wanted just wanted it to be normal. He didn't remember being away but everyone did and he couldn't help but feel sorry for that, it was his fault after all.

He didn't dwell on his thoughts, instead choosing to enjoy the atmosphere around him until the end of the meal.

"Make sure you wear warm clothes, we're moving into spring but it still starts to get colder later in the day, okay?" Taeil informed sternly as he grabbed their coats and scarfs from the coat cupboard by the door. Handing them to each of the boys, stopping at Mark and wrapping the obnoxiously green scarf around his neck, wicked smile on his face as he moved to give Jisung his things. Mark sulked slightly but still found a tiny (almost unnoticeable) smile on his face on his face, the action was so very Taeil and he was thankful for that.

After they were all geared up in their outdoor wear, Taeil opened the door for them, standing slightly to the side with Taeyong. "Okay children, you may leave this warm environment to do whatever it is you silly kids do now-a-days" Taeyong said jokingly as he watched the group of teens leave through the door, promptly closing after saying a finally 'good bye' so he wouldn't let any more heat out.

Taeil started shuffling towards the living room, stopping only when he noticed the younger boy was still standing facing the door, calling him, he watched as the man turned to him, a frown etched onto his perfect features.

"What's wrong?"

Taeyong shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure, something just doesn't feel right".

Taeil frowned at the words, honestly they worried him a little. The last time he heard those words were two years ago. The day Mark went missing. "I'm sure they'll be fine" he said slowly, "they're only going to the skate park, it literally just down the street" Taeil he continued, not quite sure who he was trying to convince, Taeyong or himself.

Taeyong nodded his head, frown still on his face but he moved to where Taeil was standing so they could enter the room together.

"Hey, why don't we call the others over? They can check on the boys on their way over and then we can have fun, it's a win-win situation" Taeil spoke calmly, only to burst out into laughter only seconds later. "I said Win-Win, you get it? Win-Win?" Taeil bumped their shoulders together, clearly pleased with his own dumb pun. Taeyong rolled his eyes at the elder but agreed none the less to keep him happy.

 

-:-:-:-

"-then he ran forward, shooting the ball straight into the goal, not even looking at the other team who were in shock at his skill" Jaemin retold the story of one of their many football games, and how Jisung was the coolest player on the field. Chenle agreed, nodding as he reached for his phone where he had kept the videos he had taken during the game. The boys watched together, Donghyuck and Jaemin whooping loudly every time Jisung so much as looked at the ball.

Jeno rolled his eyes as he watched his ~~boyfriend~~ friend reacting that way towards their youngest friend when he himself had been in the game, secretly he was cheering Jaemin on, but wouldn't do it out loud as everyone else was focusing on Jisung (more than likely because Chenle had pretty much just made fancams of Jisung, not even bothering to film Jaemin).

"-and that is the end of the legendary football game" Chenle exclaimed as he closed the last ~~fancam of Jisung~~ video of the football match he had recorded last week. Renjun let out a happy breath, falling back so he was laying on his back, looking up at the sky which was slowly turning a pinkish colour as the sun started to go down. The rest of the boys soon following as they all lay in comfortable silence, just basking in each other's presence.

"You know, Hansol hyung's agency offered me a contract" Jeno spoke up nonchalantly, his voice breaking the silence that had surrounded them. Jaemin sprung up into a seated position, his head whipping in the direction of the older boy.  "What?!" he shouted, making Renjun wince in his position next to the surprised boy. "Ouch, don't shout in my ear, Nana" he whined, but was ignored as the younger boy continued to stare at the handsome boy, who was still laying a few spaces away.

"What did you say to them, did you accept the offer?" Jaemin asked in excitement, realising that the slightly older boy had no plans of continuing telling them by himself. "I said I would, of course" Jeno answered lazily, eyes closed as he continued to relax. Jaemin all but leap on him, grabbing in in excitement. "Our Jeno is going to be a model" he exclaimed ignoring his ~~crushes~~ friends pleas for him to let go, the others joining in congratulating him.

"Just make sure you still sleep, the teachers aren't going to care if you didn't sleep enough because of some modelling gig" Donghyuck joked, pocking the unfortunate boy.

"I should have just told you all over the phone, at least then I would only have a headache" Jeno grumbled uncommitted as he escaped the merciless clutches of his friends.

"So you'll be working with my brother, Jaehyun hyung and Hansol hyung from now on?" Mark asked, eyes almost sparkling with excitement for his friend.

"Not exactly, they are all big models now. I'll just be working in the same company, maybe one day I'll be able to work with them".

"Oh my gawd, Lee Jeno! I'm friends with someone famous. Give me your signatures so I can sell them and make a profit from you" Chenle mocked as he shoved a piece of paper towards Jeno (the older, spotting it to be a piece of homework and immediately swatting it away).

"Chenle, you are always around the hyung's, just get their signatures". Jeno spat with no real malice. The younger Chinese boy dramatically started acting offended as he draped himself over Mark, who pat the boys head before shoving him onto to Jaemin.

"Good idea, but I still want yours as well, the more the merrier" Chenle stood as he spoke gleefully, dodging Jeno when he tried to kick him. He pulled out his tongue, taunting the older boy who was to lazy to actually try and get him.

"You guys aren't bullying Chenle, are you?" the boys are looked towards the voice, spotting the group of their older friends walking towards them. Upon reaching them, Chenle flung himself into Sicheng's arms, the latter stumbling back onto Johnny, but holding onto the boy anyway. "Ge, Jeno is going to be a model, like those guys" Chenle exclaimed, pointing at Hansol and Jaehyun, who looked taken aback at the boy's overflowing energy. "Chenle, use names. It's not polite to point, remember?" Renjun scolded, Chenle grumbling but apologising to the older boys.

"Well it looks like you guys are all fine so we'll be off" Yuta said, grabbing Hansol as they all waved good bye. "Remember to call us if anything happens" Doyoung called over his shoulder as he walked away, getting collective moody mumbles from the boys, each complaining about being treated like children, which the older boys couldn't even hear, they were already to far away, so it was just a waste of breath.

The group of boys continued to play around, teasing each other (mainly everyone teasing Jaeno), the sky turning darker as time passed.

They were using the old basketball court. Mark, Jisung and Jaemin (the sporty ones) on one side and Donghyuck, Jeno and Renjun (the not so sporty ones) on the other, the teams weren't quite fair but the boys were to prideful to acknowledge that they were not so good when it came to sport. Chenle was standing to the side, he had chosen to be the referee and was just shouting at both teams rather than actually do his job.

They were all running around the court, Donghyuck bouncing the ball, stuffing in under his shirt when Jaemin had almost tackled him to the floor in hopes of stealing the item. Mark was running after the cheating boy when he suddenly stopped, just standing there blankly in the middle of the court. Jisung was the first to notice, stopping immediately and making his way other to his friend and teammate. "Hyung, are you okay?" He shook the boys shoulder, gasping in surprise when the older boy collapsed forward, Jisung quickly grabbing him so he wouldn't fall to the floor.

"Mark Hyung!"

The shout seemed to catch the attention of the other boys, all of which turned to see Jisung struggling with the entire of the older males weight as he was leaning completely on the youngest boy. Jeno quickly ran and helped the boy, taking some of his friends weight from Jisung before the two of them lowered him so he was sitting on the floor, leaning on Jeno who sat next to him. Chenle and the others hovered worriedly behind as they watched.

Mark stared forward at nothing, his eyes blank of emotion as he sat there unresponsive, eyes staring at seemingly nothing. Donghyuck sat next to him on the floor, snapping his fingers in front of his face, watching for any response but didn't receive any.

"Should we call Taeyong hyung?" Renjun asked, grabbing his phone from his back pocket as he looked at the boys sitting on the floor. "Yeah, ju-" he was cut off when Mark suddenly grabbed his arm, making the boy jump in surprise.

"Yah! Lee Minhyung, you scared the crap out of us!" Jeno scolded, watching as the older boy pulled himself to his feet. Donghyuck stayed silent, observing the boy as something didn't feel quite right to him.

"Mark?" he asked cautiously, stepping towards the boy and pushing Jisung away slightly. Mark swung around, jerking forward so he could grab Donghyuck by the neck, his strength letting him lift the tanned male slightly off the ground, the younger boy gasped in shock and pain at the action, immediately bring his arms up to try and pull the hands away from his neck. Looking up he was met by unfamiliar eyes, they were bright yellow in colour, nothing about them belonged to the boy in front of him.

Jaemin was the first to react, he quickly ran forward and tugged Mark's hands away from Donghyuck's neck with enough force to push the older boy to the floor, Donghyuck falling to the floor in a pained heap. Jisung stood cautiously next to Jaemin, both boys stepping forward to block Donghyuck from sight, the tanned boy now sitting up the floor rubbing his neck to stop the slight burning sensation, Jeno next to him as he rubbed his back in comfort.

"What the hell" Jaemin watched as the boy stood, frightening yellow eyes trained on them as he started laughing, high picked and crazy.

"It was easy" Jisung stood frozen, the voice was that of his hyung and yet at the same time it wasn't.

"It was so easy" the voice spoke again.

"What was?" Renjun asked, coming to stand next to Jaemin.

"Him" the voice cackled out happily.

"He was so easy to take over"

The entire area fell silent as if time itself had been frozen, each boy looking at each other in freight.

"Who are you" Jeno's voice wobbled slightly, he didn't understand what was going on and he was terrified. The dark night no longer seemed fresh and inviting, instead it seemed to be scary and claustrophobic, shadows moving closer and closer as if they wanted to cover them.

"Me? I'm just someone who's here to collect what belongs to him".

"And what is it that you want to take back exactly?" Jaemin aksed, getting a bad feeling that he already knew what that **_thing_** was after.

"Mark, of course" it answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You see I let him come and play for a while but he seemed to have forgotten where he really _belongs_ , so I'm here to collect what's _mine_ ".

"He hasn't forgotten where he belongs" Donghyuck finally spoke up, looking directly into the eyes of ~~Mark~~ the _thing_  that was standing front of him. "He is already where he belongs, you need to leave him alone right now"

"So scary, and what if I don't? What are you going to do?" it taunted back, amused by the spirit of the boys around him.

"I'll kill you"

Laughter filled the air as thing laughed at Donghyuck. "Hmmm okay, I'll leave for now, tell Mark I dropped by" The demon laughed at it's own joke before continuing. "I look forward to seeing you again in future, Lee Donghyuck" The thing chuckled darkly as he looked at the shaking boy. "I can't say the same, do us all a favour and never come back" he sneered at the demon, only to be ignored.

The boys all watched as it turned to face Jaemin who was standing closest to him, he opened Mark's mouth giving a quick warning of "Catch" before Mark's body fell forward. Jaemin caught the boy, just barely, but held on tightly afraid he would disappear if h loosened his hold.

They heard a shout as Jaemin lowered Mark back to the floor, laying the boy down this time as he was clearly unconscious. Taeyong, Johnny and Hansol ran towards them, Chenle had managed to text them a while before when "Mark" had been distracted.

Taeyong quickly sat next to his brother, worriedly checking him over for injuries. Johnny took charge, seeing as the other boy was able too. "What happened? Chenle texted us just saying 'Something's wrong' and then wouldn't reply afterwards, then when we get here we see Mark unconscious".

"Mark was possessed" Jeno spoke, his voice barely above a whisper as he stared down at his shoes. Johnny laughed humorously, but quickly stopped when he was saw the younger boys had their heads bowed, Chenle's eyes dripping with tears. "There is no such thing as possession" Johnny denied, still getting no reaction from the boys.

After a few seconds Jisung's head snapped up, angry tears spilling harshly down his cheek as he glared directly at the older man, Johnny startled at the unexpected reaction from his youngest friend.

"You weren't there _hyung._ Something - no not something, that goddamned bastard that took him from us before possessed him". Everyone was surprised when the boy cursed, but no one moved to scold him as he continued. "He tried to kill Donghyuck, strangled him until Jaemin managed to knock him away. He said he was- oh god he said he was going to take him take back". Jisung moved and gripped onto the older boys arms, his voice become more hysteric as his mind finally processed what happened.

Taeyong's head snapped up at the words, eyes wide and angry as he stood. Jisung paid him no mind as he continued. "Hyung, you can't let him take Mark, not again. I don't think I'll be able to handle it" Jisung cried as he shook Johnny, the older male pulling him into a tight hug as Hansol went to check on Donghyuck, wincing at the sight of his bruising neck.

"No one is taking anyone, Mark is staying with us and no fucking person or demon or whatever that bastard is, is going to change that" Taeyong's voice was angry as he bent down, scooping Mark into his arms and turning away not bothering to see if the others were following behind him.

Johnny calmed Jisung down, he gathered all the kids together along with Hansol. "We should go, we'll go back to Mark's house and stay there. We'll call your parents to let them know, okay?" The group nodded, Donghyuck let out a sigh of relief, he didn't know what he was going to tell his mum but this would give him some time to hide it.

"We'll think of something, everything will be okay" Hansol spoke sincerely as they all walked back to Mark's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in over a month. I was sick (again ¬_¬) but I'm fine now and I have so much school work, I finish my final year in a few months and most of my deadlines have been coming up so I have been really busy. Honestly with my free time I have only been updated my Co-authored NCT family fic (as the chapters are really short).  
> I hope you guys forgive me for updating so late and that you enjoyed the chapter. If you guys could comment I would be eternally grateful :3


	9. Let's Play a Game

_**"Pick One"** _

_**The world around him was dark, blank, a void. Looking around Mark tried to find the owner of the voice. He felt his body startle as the voice spoke up again, the deep raspy sound making a shiver shoot down his spine.** _

_**"It's your choice. Pick one."** _

_**The words swirled around in his head, he tried to decipher what the voice was trying to tell him but could think of nothing.** _

_**"Pick what?" His voice shook as he tried again to find the owner of the haunting voice, but once again failed in his search as all he could see was the endless darkness which surrounded him. A shrill laugh ran through the air making the boy tense up, eyes searching desperately around him.** _

_**"You have to pick one Mark."** _

_**"But I don't know what I'm supposed to be picking!" His voice rose in desperation and confusion, the laughter continuing to mess with the boy. The sound was familiar but yet he couldn't remember where he knew it from.** _

_**"If you are so sure you don't know, why don't I show you another one?" The voice sounded closer. Mark felt his body freeze as he felt hot breath on his neck, he wanted to move away as it seemed to burn the skin it touched but his body wouldn't move. The voice continued this time next to the terrified boy's ear.** _

_**"Just remember this was your choice. It will be another person to join our little lottery."** _

**_"It's only going to get more fun from here"_ **

_**Before Mark could even think of what that meant, his vision blurred. He closed his eyes and was surprised when he opened his eyes he was in the familiar area of the roller coster. He shivered looking around. 'No' he thought, finally piecing together what this meant. 'I don't want to see another one' he scrunched his eyes shut and willed the dream to end.** _

Of course it didn't.

"Mark" the shout was distant and strangely happy in comparison to the tense atmosphere that seemed to be trying to suffocate Mark, surrounded the boy in tightly in the darkness.

At the call of his name his eyes opened in surprise, his eyes darted around as he searched frantically for the owner, this time familiar.

"Mark, I'm up here" The voice called again and Mark slowly looked up at the roller coaster, fearful for the sight that might meet him. At the top he noticed a figure sitting on the tracks, their legs dangling over the side.

"Hyung! You should join me, the air is so fresh up here"

Mark ignored the younger boy's word, his breathing laboured as he struggled to suck in a much needed breath over his panic. He knew exactly who was sitting dangerously on the edge of the tracks, he knew but he wished it to not be true.

After a few minutes, Mark opened his eyes a new resolve burning in them. He was going to save him, he was going to take control. With no hesitance Mark walked towards the rollercoaster, stopping only briefly to look up before he started to climb. "Jeno, don't move. I'm coming up just like you wanted so stay still, okay?" he didn't receive a response but did not stop moving as he struggled up the tall structure.

Towards the top he saw a pair of legs still dangling and found himself sighing in relief that the younger boy was still there. Unexpectantly when he had almost reached the top a hand stuck out. "Grab my hand Hyung, I'm going to pull you up" the voice sounded different now, it was no longer happy, it was now scared as if the reality of the situation hit.

Mark grabbed Jeno's hand and struggled onto the tracks, as soon as he was safely on the ground he pulled the younger into a hug which he responded to. "I'm sorry Hyung, this is what you've been going through this whole time?" Mark pulled back confused, the younger boy was just a character in his dream why did it sound so real. Seeing Mark's confusion Jeno hurriedly spoke up. "I think we're sharing a dream scape. I was awake one minute and the next I was here" His voice quivered as he dared to look down.

'It's only going to get more fun from here' the words from the monster echoed in his ears, he now understood what it meant. It wasn't just him anymore he was now targetting his friends as well, making them experience the same horrifying experiences he had.

He choked back a sob at the thought, the man had said it was going to be his fault what happened now. It was his fault Jeno had to experience this mess. 

"Hyung we should get down, it's not safe up here" Mark simply nodded in agreement and they decided to follow the tracks down rather than climbing like Mark had originally when he wanted to get to the younger boy. They didn't walk far before Jeno stopped, eyebrows furrowed. "Do you here that?" Mark paused, it didn't take long before he heard something coming towards them.

"The rides been turned on" he said, eyes blown in terror. "W-We have to climb down, the carts are coming". Jeno nodded and they both got on their hands and knees, carefully sliding down onto the structure below. Only moments after they were off the tracks they felt the vibrations of the ride carts above them, inhuman screams echoing as they did years ago when families came to enjoy their time, only to scream in terror when a young boy was thrown from his seat and onto the tracks, his blood spraying the first carts and the people in them when his body collided with the ride at a high speed. It was one of the accidents which accounted for the eventual shut down of the amusement park.

"We need to climb down now" the handsome boy nodded, tears in his eyes as he tried to not look down. After minutes of climbing, both teenagers collapsed on the safe ground below. Mark rushed to comfort Jeno as the younger boy started to cry. "It's okay, we're both fine, we're both alive and safe. If you had not been here I don't know what I would have done. I know it wouldn't have ended the same way". His next words made him feel guilty but they were genuine. "Thank You Jeno" He buried his head in the crevice between the boy's neck and shoulders, letting the relief flow through him as he sat next to the very much alive boy.

"It's over, can we wake up now?" Jeno asked as he calmed down. Mark looked around, he usually would have woken up by now. "I don't know, something feels wrong".

"What does?" Jeno asked as he surveyed their surroundings. "I don't know" He felt frustrated, he knew something was wrong but he couldn't figure out what. Jeno thought for a second before his eyes widen, a look of horror on his face. "What if we haven't woken up because it's not over?" The words hung heavily over the two as they sat in silence. "W-what if there's someone else here, or what if we're all here" Mark shook his head, that wasn't possible. There was no way **_that thing_** could do that, was there?

_**'Number 1'** _

Mark startled at the voice causing Jeno to look at him in confusion. "What's wrong?" he looked around to find what spooked the older boy but saw nothing. "Didn't you hear him?" Mark's voice was rushed as he frantically looked around.

"Hear who?" Jeno asked, confused.

"Him. His here somewhere" Mark said shakily as he grasped the bottom of his T-shirt tightly. Jeno shook his head, confused and concerned for his friend as there had been no noise at all.

"Hyung calm down, we need to find a way to get away from him. The only way we can do that is to find something. I don't know what but something tells me there are more people we need to find". Mark nodded as he tried to control his breathing, he soon had it under control and sighed.

"We should look around" He knew he needed to take control, they needed to do this fast in order to get out of there. As the oldest he knew it was his responsibilitly to get them both out and anyone else who was stuck there to.

"Should we split up? Cover more ground?" Jeno asked hesitantly. Mark shook his head "No, that puts us both at more risk, I have a feeling that are lives are no longer safe even if we are in a dream. Plus the reason this whole game started two years ago because he split up, right?". Jeno felt guilt pool in his chest, he knew his hyung was stating facts but hearing it made his heart ache.

"Where should we go first?" the younger asked slowly. They both jumped as the lights to the rollercoaster suddenly turned off leaving them in darkness. They hadn't taken much notice before but the rollercoaster lights were the only things lighting their surroundings. Mark clutched grasped Jeno wrist as they stood in silence, they listening to their surroundings to make sure that nothing was around them.

Jeno opened his mouth to speak but was startled when he spotted lights in the distance. He shook Mark's arm to get his attention. "Hyung there are lights on" he said as he pointed towards them. Not being able to see where Jeno was pointing because of the darkness he looked around for where the boy was talking about.

In the distance he saw the lights to the swing ride lighting up. "We should go, something's telling me that whatever is there is not going to wait. After all the game has begun". Jeno wasn't exactly sure what the older boy was talking about but he agreed and they both started to run in the direction of the lights, they held onto each other to make they wouldn't get separated.

The sight that greeted them was terrifyingly unexpected. Before they even arrived they could hear the desperate calls for help, the person was crying and screaming for anyone. One of the swings was occupied by their youngest friend, his pleas for help almost overwhelming. His wrists were tied to the sides on the chair, the ride itself was already moving at a speed that was not safe. Jeno watched as the chairs were swung around a high speed, one of them flying from its place and falling to the floor with a loud crash. This made the youngest boy shout louder, more tears slid down his face as he became increasingly more scared.

"Jisungie, w-we're going to stop it okay? Listen we're going to get you off safe" Mark wasn't sure if the boy heard him but he quickly turned Jeno. "We need to find the control panel, we should be able to stop it from there". Jeno nodded, looking around to find said area. He heard the sound of another chair forcefully thrown from the swing, flinching slightly he swung around to ensure their youngest friend was still safe. He was, for now at least.

"Jeno it's here!" He quickly ran to Mark, the older boy was trying to force the door open as it was presumably locked. He ran over and they nodded at each other before slamming shoulder first into the door, after a few times the door gave in, collapsing onto the ground. Mark ran in, Jeno slightly behind him holding his shoulder.

They looked around before Jeno saw the speed controls and slowly decreased the speed, he was worried that if it slowed to quickly Jisung could get injured. Seeing this Mark looked around for the lowing mechanism, which he found quite fast. Once he saw the ride was almost stopping he lowered it. They heard a scream and a thump, they both rushed out scared to see the worst. Upon reaching the rode they saw Jisung on the floor, he was stuck in the chair, his wrists still tied tightly to sides. The seat had fallen from the chains which held up the ride but he had not been hurt thanks to the ride being lowered.

Jisung could still feel the lasting feeling of adrenalin in his body as he cried pitifully on the floor. He was terrified, just moments ago he thought he was going to die but he was now 'safe' on the floor.

"Jisung!" he looked up when he heard someone shout his name, only to see Mark and Jeno. He couldn't help it as he choked up a sob once again, this time with relief. "H-h-hyungs-" His voice was heavy, the effect of the tears ad snot that was running down his face. He knew he must have looked a mess but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"The two quickly surrounded him, Jeno freighting over possible injuries while Mark started to untie his wrists. He was quickly freed and jumped into the arms of Mark who had been closer to him, sobbing onto his shoulder about scared he was. Jeno quickly came to rub his back as they reassured him. "You're okay now, we're going to be fine" Once he pulled away from the oldest boy, Jeno quickly moved in front of him, using his sleeve to clear the years and snot off his face. He felt affection dwell in his chest as the older boy didn't complain or grimace at the mess he made, he just quickly cleaned his face and pulled him into a comforting hug.

_**'Number two'** _

Mark heard the haunting voice but didn't move from his position on the floor, his body tensing was the only sign that he had even heard the voice. He chose not to say anything as the other two had not reacted at all. 

The lights to the swing ride shut off much like the roller coasters did before. Jeno felt Jisung startle in his arms but quickly reassured him. Mark stood, looking around for where their next 'game' was going to be. Spotting the lights he felt dread pool in his stomach. The bumper cars.

If the next game was the bumper cars then Mark already knew who was going to be there. Renjun. He shivered thinking back to the last dream at the bumper cars but quickly shoved the thoughts away. 'I'm not going to let that happen again'.

"We need to go, the next ride is the bumper cars. I don't know if it's going to start without us again but I would rather not risk it". Both boys agreed, Jeno standing first and helping Jisung onto his feet which the younger thanked him for. The moved quickly, no one wanting to waste time. 

_**'Number 3'** _

The voice shocked Mark making him freeze on the spot. Terrible thoughts filled his head as they had not yet completed the third game. Did they lose? A tear dripped down his face startling the younger two boys, they had both stopped upon noticing the elder had. 

"Mark?" Jisung asked warily, the older boy didn't even react to the lack of honorifics. Jeno walked steadily towards him, unsure as what to do. "Mark-ah, what's wrong?"

A hand on his shoulder had the older boy snapping his head up, his eyes meeting Jeno's who looked at him in concern. "I-I think a game has happened without us" 

"What!?"

"Every time we save someone I hear a voice, his voice, telling me the number. I just heard it again but we haven't even arrived".

Jisung grasped, a hand flying to cover his mouth as he pieced together what that could mean. Jeno shook his head, his reflecting a steely determination as he spoke. "I don't believe it, I would unless I...see it. That sick fuck could be messing with you" Jisung quickly agreed. "We should keep moving, if Renjun or whoever it is, is still alive they won't be much longer if we don't save him". The youngest members said as he grabbed Marks arm and started dragging him forward.

Approaching the next ride they heard a familiar voice calling, but not for help, to help someone else. 

"Chenle?" 

Jisung mumbled upon hearing the voice, he was calling for Renjun who didn't seem to be responding. The trio looked at each other before quickly running the rest of the way. Arriving at the bumper cars felt surreal, Mark looked around the familiar area, spotting Chenle calling for Renjun who was unconscious in one of the cars. 

Chenle called to Renjun, he didn't enter the ring in fear of what happened two years ago to the unconscious boy across from him. The older Chinese boy didn't respond, and Chenle looked at him in concern. It was a few seconds before he heard something running at him from behind, before he could even turn around he was tackled into a warm embrace. Jisung held him tightly, Chenle could barely keep up with what he was saying because of how fast the boy was talking. "Did you escape as well" Chenle asked as he pulled the younger boy away from him. Jisung nodded. "Jeno and Mark hyung saved me". 

Chenle looked around and spotted the two mentioned boys, he looked in concern as he saw Mark stumble and Jeno catch him, lowering him onto the floor carefully. "What wrong?" Chenle asked, turning to Jisung. Jisung's eyebrows furrowed in concern as he shrugged. "I'm not sure".

Mark made a move to step forward but a wave of pain hit him, making his legs lose strength. Jeno caught him before he could hit the ground. "Hyung, what's wrong? Does something hurt?" He asked urgently. Mark couldn't hear anything, his head felt like it was under water as he saw flashes off what had happen the night two years ago, memories that he had previously struggled to remember. They quickly disappeared and Mark got a grip on his surroundings, he could feel a panicked shaking him, calling his name. He quickly stopped the younger boy who, helped him to his feet. 

"I-I'm okay, I just.....remembered something" 

Jeno still looked concerned but didn't say anything, he kept a grip on the older boys arm as they went over to Chenle, Jisung already with the youngest Chinese boy.

"Hyung we need to get Renjun-" Chenle stopped as the lights of the bumper cars turned on. 

"They're going to hit his car" Mark said in realisation. "We need to defend him, each get in a car and try and stop them from hitting him. The boys nodded, moving into the ring carefully and taking control of a bumper each. With not a second to spare the cars started moving, the boys moving as well as they tried their best to deflect the cars. "Chenle, get as close as you can and get Renjun from his car and into your". Chenle shook his head, eyes terrified. "I-I can't Hyung, I wouldn't be able to move him fast enough" The younger shouted, hitting a car that got to close. 

Mark's eyebrows furrowed but quickly got into action. "I'll do it, just defend me" The others nodded in response as Mark slid his car next to Renjun's. He grabbed the unconscious boy and swung him into this own car, flinching when the boy hit the head harshly, waking in up. "What the- Mark? What's going on?" He looked around wildly, scared of their current situation. Mark didn't respond, choosing to get them somewhere safe.

"I've got him, drive to the edge and get out the car as quickly as possible before another car can hit your" he heard varying noises of agreement and drove to the edge himself. He quickly shoved the younger boy out of the car and onto the safe ground outside the ring. He climbed over the seat, turning slightly to see Jeno defend him. He exited quickly joined Renjun, trying to explain what was happening as they waited for the other three boys to arrive.

Renjun felt overwhelmed by what he was told, there was no way. He quickly thought of the last thing that happened before he was here and froze when he remembered as being with all of their friends. The older boys concerned as one at a time the younger friends started collapsing. By the time he had collapsed, Mark, Jeno, Jisung and Chenle had all fainted. All of which were now there with him in the 'dream world'. 

The older Chinese boy watched as the other three boys quickly rushed out of the rings. Heavy breathing filled the air as they all sat on the floor. "I'm glad you're safe Jun" Jeno said, as he took a deep breath. Jisung then turned to Chenle. "Wait Mark said he heard number three and you're not in a game, did you escape by yourself?". Chenle looked confused but then nodded, a cheeky smile growing on his face. "I woke on a carousel, the thing tried spinning it around but I guess he didn't know I mastered jumping on roundabouts years ago" he winked as he finished the explanation.

Mark felt a small genuine smile on his face, it look was good to see that Chenle was still the same despite the current situation.

_**'Number 4'** _

Mark scoffed at the voice in his head as he waiting patiently for what he knew would come next. Once again the lights went out and Mark looked around to find the next challenge. He was getting tired of this but he was going to get them all out of this hell safe, even if it was the last thing he did.

The oldest boy found himself becoming weary as the next lights didn't not come on straight away as they had previously. They waited in the pitch black darkness for a few tense minutes before Renjun shouted that he found the next lights. Mark turned fast and grimaced. The arcade, another trip he had made before. 

"Let's go get Nana"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Wow it's been a really long time, I'm sorry this took so long. I made it slightly longer than usual as an apology ;)
> 
> There's not much left to go now, I would have 2-3 chapters left and then it will be finished :( I already know how ot is going to end, depending on how you guys react I might right a sequel, it will be focused on the older NCT members and Yukhei and Jungwoo will also join because I love them. 
> 
> Tell me how you felt about this chapter, I am thirsty for feedback ;)
> 
> If you enjoyed comments and kudos are loved greatly ^.^


	10. Behind The Scenes

Nothing could have prepared them for what happened. The whole group had been together when it had begun, nobody had even noticed when it had started. The main player of the game not being around. Taeyong couldn't have known that the game had started as soon as he let Mark excuse himself early because he was tired. No, they had only panicked when Jeno, who had been standing, had suddenly fallen to the ground without warning, Yuta catching him when he noticed the younger boys abnormally still form suddenly tip forward without warning. They had gathered around the boy as soon as he had been lowered to the floor.

"Jeno" Hansol shook him slightly, tapping his face gently to see if he would gain a response, but nothing had happened. They continued trying, not wanting to call an ambulance as the boys pulse seemed normal, nothing out the ordinary about his breathing. It was after half an hour when they still hadn't gotten a response that they went to call an ambulance. They didn't, as soon as the phone was in Johnny's hand chaos erupted once again when Jisung pitched forward, his body falling on top of Donghyuck, a complaint ready to leave the older boys mouth until he realised what had happened. He called the younger boys name, gently laying him on the floor.

Taeil rushed over when he saw Donghyuck struggling to lay an unconscious Jisung onto the floor. "What happened?" He asked as he quickly checked over the boy, satisfied when he found no injury. "I don't know, it was just like Jeno. He was standing one second and was on top of me the next". Donghyuck explained, he worried his lip as he looked at the unconscious form of his youngest friend.

"Tae!" Taeil called out for his boyfriend, the younger male's attention quickly drawn towards the call before he quickly moved other to the two males hunched other Jisung's still form. He looked at the youngest boy in the room before his eyes widened in realisation, without even stopping for a second he had sped out the room, ignoring the concerned calls from Taeil. Taeyong ran up the stairs, slipping slightly from the speed but making it to the top safely. He burst into the second room down and saw the 'sleeping' form of his younger brother.

Taeyong quickly approached Mark, shaking him gently to try and rouse him from sleep. The shaking became harsher when the boy didn't respond. Not wanting to hurt the boy he quickly pulled back, pulling the sleeping boy into his arms and carrying him out of his room and down the stairs. As he entered the room he drew the attention of Doyoung and Jaehyun, who had been standing worriedly off to the side, not wanting to crowd the poor boys. He ignored their questioning gazes as he gently lowered his brother on the sofa, brushing the hair from his face and kissing his forehead lightly before standing back to his full height.

"Okay-" his clear voice rang throughout the small room, all the available pairs of eyes turning towards him as he spoke. "If my assumptions are correct, and I fucking hope they're not, but if they are I need all of you who are younger than Jaehyun to sit down and lean against something." He paused, waiting for the kids to do as they had been asked, turning to look expectantly at him when they had. "I think this has something to do with the park, you guys have all been there when whatever freaky shit that happens there, happened. Mark won't wake up much like the other two". He saw as everyone turned to look at the boys who appeared to be sleeping innocently.

As he was about to continue he saw Chenle's eyes close, he quickly signalled for Johnny to check to boy and was not surprised when he didn't respond. What did surprise him was that Renjun also appeared to have fainted as his eyes were also closed, eyes not flickering open like they would have after a second if he was awake. Taeyong sighed as he ruffled his hair nervously. He had no idea what was going on but panicking now would only make the situation worse for everyone.

"Lay them down, I don't know what's going on but we should make sure they're comfortable".

The elder boys moved their unconscious friends down so they were lying on their back. Yuta frowned as he moved Jisung, there was a bruise on his knee and scratches on his elbows which weren't there moments before. Unsure exactly what happened he didn't alert anyone to the suspicious injuries.

"Don't get up" Taeil directed Jaemin back onto the floor as the younger boy tried to stand and help. Jaemin frowned but didn't argue as he quickly moved next to Donghyuck. The slightly older boy fiddled with his hands nervously as he looked around the room. Jaemin noticed him fidgeting and grabbed one of his hands, turning to look him straight in the eyes. "We're going to be okay, we're all going to be okay" he spoke with confidence, leaving no room for argument as he continued to clutch Donghyuck's hand.

After another ten minutes nothing had happen, the tension in the room was so thick Jaemin felt like he could hardly breathe. He didn't even notice as his eyes drifted shut and his world turned to darkness. Donghyuck felt as Jaemin's hand began to loosen and held it tighter in his hand.

He waited a few minutes to calm down before he spoke up quietly, the words seemed almost deafening in the silent room.

"I guess it's only me left".

He release a deep breath before slowly lowering Jaemin to the floor and gave his hand one last squeeze before standing up, he ignored the looks he received from the older boys and went and sat next to Mark, grabbing his hands and laying his head down on the sofa the older boy was lying across. This time, Donghyuck noticed as his eyes began to close but didn't fight it as he felt his mind drift off into oblivion.

Taeyong put his face into his hands, his mind reeling in what he should do. He sighed as he sat up and looked around the room at his remaining friends. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a worried Yuta.

"What the- Jaemin's bleeding!" Taeyong sprung up and quickly looked at the mentioned boy. Blood was dripping from a cut on his head but his face showed no pain. The room became panicked by the sudden injury.

"Taeyong you need to call your dad! He needs to know what the hell is going on". Taeil said as he rushed out of the room for a first aid kit.

"How can I when we don't even know what's going on?!" The lovers glared at each other but Hansol quickly stepping in to diffuse the oncoming argument. "This is not the time. Taeyong if you don't want to call your dad then that's up to you. Taeil I think more than anything we need to call an ambulance". He finished calmly, stroking Yuta's back to try and calm the panicked boy down.

Taeil ran his fingers through his hair in frustration but then put his hands up in surrender and walked out of the room. Jaehyun grabbed his phone from his pocket and called the hospital and telling them how there were seven unconscious boys, one of which had a head injury. He put down the phone and placed his hand on one of Doyoung's shaking knees.

"It'll be over soon. They'll be okay".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> Just a short chapter about what was happening in reality. There is only going to be one more chapter, something I am happy about ^.^  
> Please look forward to the ending, it will be open ended as I intend to write a sequel!!!  
> If you enjoyed this chapter remember to write a comment or leave Kudos. :)


	11. Only The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I know that it's been a long time but the update is finally here. Last time I said that this would be the last chapter, however there will still be one more. I originally planned to end it this chapter but lack of inspiration and writers block meant that the chapter took a lot longer to write than planned. I'm still struggling with this story so I decided it would be best to update now and try and finish the rest off as soon as possible.

Jaemin blinked his eyes open, startled by the loud music and bright lights which danced around his vision. He quickly noticed he was standing, something that surprised and disturbed him as he had only just awoken, he quickly shook that off, he hadn't awoken he had fallen asleep. Looking around he saw yellow eyes staring at him in amusement, he glowered at the creature in defiance, angry at what he had put them all through for the last few years.

"Where are my friends?" The creature seemed to become more amused by the anger in his voice, which only made him angrier. "I asked you a question!"

"You're quite the spit-fire aren't you? I like that, it reminds me of Mark before I made him feel what pain really is" the demon smiled as if remembering a fond memory, Jaemin glared as the words processed, disgusted at what he had heard. "Unfortunately you are a player in this game which means you can only move on if you beat this round! Doesn't that sound fun?" Jaemin flinched at the harshness in the voice, it sounded crazed as it swung its arms around in wild gestures.

"Fine. What game are we playing?"

"I guess Mark never told you...Oh, well you'll soon figure it out" Jaemin watched as the figure stood to its full height, he found himself gulping as he realised just how tall the creature was. He stepped backwards, eyeing the demons hands as they moved towards the High Striker, its palms curling around the handle of the mallet.

He looked around as he saw the demon smile at him, sharp teeth on show as it began to advance towards him. He seeing a gap between some of the machines he quickly darted between them into the next aisle of game. Terror shot through him as a loud crash resounded through the arcade, the noise coming from just meters away, he continued to move but dared a look over his shoulder to see the demon step over the now broken coin machine.

The game of cat and mouse continued for only a few minutes before Jaemin found himself at a deadend, his back pressed against the front of 'hit the mole'.

 ** _'Well isn't that familiar'_** he thought wryly as he saw which game he was backed up against. He pressed further as he saw the creature turn directly into his sight.

**_'I don't want to die. I haven't apologised for anything, like eating Jisung's candy then blaming Hyuck or spreading gossip about Chenle, or...never telling Jeno how I feel about him'._ **

He shut his eyes tight as the creature drew closer at a tauntingly slow pace. When he heard it begin to raise the mallet his eyes sprung open and he pushed into the creature, not even a second later he heard the mallet come down and hit the machine. He rushed passed the creature as fast as possible, not stopping to look back, but a pain went through him as he found himself flying through the air, his head meeting with the side of a machine as he came to an abrupt stop.

He groaned in shock as he rolled onto his back, he felt something warm slide down the side of his face but ignored it as his mind tried to piece together what had happened. After a few seconds he realised the demon must have swung around and hit him with the mallet before he was able to get far enough. He panicked as he watched the creature appear in front of him, creepy smile in place as he peered down at the injured boy with amused yellow eyes.

"I'm sorry, was I too rough?" Its croaked laugh sounded loud even next to the overwhelming noise of the music from the machines. "Our little game had come to an end far to quickly, it's a shame I thought you would prove to be more entertaining". It shrugged as it once again raised the mallet. Tears slid down Jaemin's cheeks as his eyes watched, wide with terror. No longer able to look into the creatures dark eyes, he squeezed his own shut, waiting for the oncoming blow that would no doubt finish him.

There was darkness.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

"How much further?" Chenle asked, they had been jogging for the past few minutes and the noise didn't seem to be getting any closer. Mark paused mid-jog and looked around, causing the others to pause and wait. Jeno looked antsy, uncontained worry practically seeping off him.

"Can we just keep going, it's taking us longer than it has any other time, we don't know what could haooen in that time" he stressed, not waiting for an answer before turning and pulling into a faster jog than before.

"Jeno! We can't separate, it's dangerous" Renjun called as he moved to follow as the slightly younger boy chose to ignore him. Chenle huffed, looking towards Mark who shook his head and gestured for them to follow the agitated teen.

It took mere minutes to reach the sound of music, Mark covered his ears slightly at how loud the sound was. He felt another wave of pain causing him to lose balance, falling onto Jisung who was unprepared for the sudden weight causing both boys to fall to the floor.

"Ya-" Jisung stopped as he noticed his oldest friend clutching his head with his hands, body splayed on the floor as he whithered in pain. "Mark?" He asked unsure, batting at Chenle and Renjun who were threating over him. "He needs space" the youngest scolded.

A sudden crash from within the arcade had all their heads snapping away from Mark to focus on the flashing lights of the entrance.

"Jaemin..." Jeno muttered before bolting into the building. The other boys made noises of protest, torn for what they should do. Mark sat up, eyes glazed over as he waved the other boys off. "We need to go in there".

"Are you sure you should? I mean you don't look so good" Chenle asked in concern.

"You could wait out here..." he trailed off as the older boy started to stand, Jisung immediately helping him up. "Or not" he muttered to himself as he watched the stubborn boy rise to his feet. "I'm fine, let's go in there before one of them gets hurt". The others nodded, rushing towards the door when they heard another crash from inside.

~:~

Jeno felt his heart palpitate as he rushed into the building, the blaring music almost deafening him but he took no noticed as he swung his head around looking for the boy he knew he needed to help. Not far from him he spotted the looming figure of the demon and automatically ran towards him as he saw the creature raise the hatchet above his head. Knowing exactly what he was aiming for, he jumped on the creature without a split second of thinking when he had gotten close enough.

The sudded attack seemed to surprise the creature as it dropping the weapon behind, narrowly missing Jeno who had attached himself to its back. "Nana! Stand up, quickly!" he demanded, the younger boy snapped his eyes open at the familiar shout to see the unexpected sight. Without having to be told again he stood up, his vision blurring for a second before refocusing.

Just as he was about to move past he saw as the demon grabbed Jeno's shirt from the back, the older male chocking slightly as he was pulled forcefully from the figure and thrown to the floor.

"Jeno! Nana!" Jaemin rushed past the creature, seeing his friends rushing towards them. He bent down grabbing Jeno from the ground and pulling him away by the wrist.

"Go! Go!" he shouted as he grew closer. The other boys turned and ran towards the exit, Chenle shouted at them to stop as he noticed the doors were closed, eerie figures standing in front of the door on the other side. The group looked around trying to find another exit.

Mark felt a shiver run through his body when deep laughter filled the room, the demon walking towards them slowly, hatchet being swung around as to taunt the already terrified boys. "G-go that way!" Jaemin pointed at some of the machine that led away from their pursuer. He held his head slightly as more blood trailed down his face, his head aching slightly as he ignored the injury.

They ran to the door, using all their weight on it as they expected it to be jammed but ended up falling through as the door opened normally. Not wanted to take chances they all hurriedly scrambled away from the door as fast as they could. Once they were not within reach of the door they turned around, panting in exhaustion. Standing by the door was the demon, it stared at them, feisty yellow eyes piercing through them until they paused on Mark. Seeing this, Renjun moved slightly in front of the older to cover him, despite his shorter frame. No one dared to look away as the monster tipped its head forward, its laughter once again filled the air as it vanished, no matter how many times they blinked the figure not returning.

Jaemin groaned as the last bit of adrenaline left him, the pain in his head suddenly intensifying as it fully registered his injury. Hearing the noise Jeno was all over him in seconds, fingers drifting above the cut on his head worriedly even through the bleeding appeared to have stopped. "Are you okay?" Jaemin nodded, but immediately regretted it as his vision swam slightly, he groaned again causing Jeno to flitter around him worriedly.

Feeling embarrassed from the attention he cleared his throat awkwardly. He looked around at his friends ignoring the suggestive looks and scowled at Chenle who smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. One thing was for sure, he no longer regretted spreading that gossip, he would not apologise not even on his deathbed.

"Jaemin, this is sudden by can we talk for a minute-" he looked at their audience and raised his voice so they would be able to hear him properly. "-alone". Jaemin snickered as he heard the whined protests but let himself he led further from his friends, not enough for them to no longer be able to see them but enough that they would not be heard".

They stood in silence for a few minutes before Jaemin felt Jeno slip his hand into his own, squeezing it slightly. "I was worried you know? We had seen what the others had been through already I got so scared when Mark said you were his next 'game'. I felt panic that I don't think I've felt since _that_ night". Jaemin nodded along, slightly confused as to where this was going but inside his heart seemed to pound harder with anticipation.

"Na Jaemin I do believe this is the worst scenario I could have thought off, you know with the whole psychopathic demon trying to kill us thing and all, but I that only made me realise that I shouldn't be hesitating to tell you in fear. So I want to tell you, Na Jaemin, I like you, I like you a lot". He stopped, looking at Jaemin to try and gauge his reaction. Jaemin's eyes were wide as he looked at him in surprise, his silence made Jeno nervous as he waited for a response, good or bad.

"I-I don't know what to say, but I guess the best response that I can even process right now is that I like you too" relief filled Jeno as he pulled the slightly smaller boy into a hug. "I'm glad".

"Guys if your all done with your love confessions then we need to go. Mark heard the creepy 'number 5' thing so we should probably go and find Donghyuck" Chenle shouted, louder than necessary, his face a mix of slight happiness for the two but also worry for Donghyuck who was the only one they had not yet found.

"We should go" Jaemin nodded in agreement as the two began to jog to catch up with their group of friends who had already started moving. When they caught up Jeno looked at all of his friends. They all looked worried but he couldn't help but pity Mark, his best-friend looked like he was about to explode with worry or grief, maybe both, Jeno wasn't sure. He squeezed Jaemin's hand, sending a small comforting smile towards his boyfriend. The younger seemed to understand and walked to Chenle, Jisung and Renjun, keeping them close.

Jeno approached his friend, placing a hand on one of his slumped shoulders. "It'll be okay, we've managed so far and we'll do it again. We'll save Donghyuck and we'll return home safe, all of us. Mark nodded looking towards the haunted house, the building which was now lit up, the lights were dull in comparison to the other rides, something that only added to the eerie feel of the dark building.

They stood outside what they prayed would be their final destination. Jisung couldn't find one good thing about the place, the air surrounding it sent shivers down his spine and the looks on his hyung's faces suggested that they felt the same. Thick tension permeated the air, Jisung gulped as he tried to fight the fear that was clawed in his chest.

Jaemin swallowed his fear, silently volunteering to go first as he stepped forward towards the large double doors, ignoring the clowns, whose eyes seemed to follow every move he made from either side of the door, eyes set into a permanent glare as they dared anyone stupid enough to enter.

Seeing this, Jeno followed closely behind his injured boyfriend, ready to defend him in a split second if necessary. Mark made a move to go forward but felt something clutching his arm, turning slightly he saw Chenle, the younger boy shaking as he stared at the building.

"Something's wrong" Mark frowned at the boy, reaching out a comforting hand to his shoulder only to have it brushed off. "I'm not talking about the same way this whole thing is!" he breathed out to try and calm down but struggled. "Something's going happen in there and we're not going to be able to stop it".

Renjun came up from behind and pulled Chenle into his chest, ignoring the feeling of wet tears on his shirt. He rubbed Chenle's back in comfort, and silently gestured for Mark to go in, the older boy hesitated, unsure of what to make of Chenle's sudden melt down. Chenle had always been the brave one within their group, even earlier that day he had escaped his own trap and moved on by himself, to see him like this made Mark feel uneasy.

"We'll catch up"

Mark nodded and quickly moved into the building as he remembered that two of their friends had already ventured inside. Jisung, who had watched the whole situation moved to follow Mark, glancing back briefly to the seemingly distraught Chenle.

The house was dark, dull blue and red lights were the only source of light, though they didn't do much. Jisung squinted, reaching forward to grab the back of Mark's shirt to ensure they would stay together. Mark reached back and grabbed the youngers wrist, gently guiding him to walk next to him. They followed the basic route for a few minutes, the air silent as neither dared to speak.

There was a small water pit not far from the start, a statue - of what Mark supposed was meant to look like a siren - stood in the middle, but more notable were the two figures who were stood in front of it. He approached cautiously, knowing who the figures were but not why they were just standing there. Upon closer inspection he noticed the way the two boys were staring at the statue, their eyes glazed over in a daze.

Jisung called their names but garnered no response from the two older boys, he went to look at the statue but had his eyes cover a split second before he could look at her face.

"Mark?"

"Don't look. I need you to help me get them away from it, that should work".

Jisung nodded making sure to turn his head just before the older boy took his hands away from his eyes.

"What are you doing?" The youngest heard Renjun ask from behind, he turned and offered a small smile to Chenle, the older boy still seeming reluctant to be in there.

"We're moving them away from the statue. This place is like a giant trap" Mark offered as a short explanation, rather than questioning the oldest boy he simply nodded and moved to Jeno's other side, he grabbed his arm and helped Mark to take their friend into the next room. They entered cautiously, looking around for signs of trouble, sighing in relief when they saw none and beckoned Jisung and Chenle into the room with Jaemin.

Mark slapped Jeno's face lightly, the younger boy's eyes soon becoming clearer. Mark sighed and stepped back as Jeno looked around in confusion. "Something weird happened, didn't it?" Jisung nodded hesitantly as Jeno watched Renjun shake Jaemin, the younger boy looking equally as he had only moments before.

"We need to move, we don't know know much time we have and as soon as we can find Donghyuck we can finally escape this hell". The rest of the boys merely nodded as Mark tried to peer into the next room through the blurred window. Chenle bit his lip as the feeling of dread continued to build in his chest.

"I guess we should go then" Jeno stopped slightly behind the eldest boy before placing a firm hand onto his shoulder.

"Donghyuck's strong, we're all going to get out of here and Taeyong hyung is going to yell at us for scaring them, Taeil standing next to him making funny face to make us laugh".

"That's oddly specific but reassuring" Jaemin said as he pulled an unhappy Chenle with him towards the door. This made Mark crack as small smile as he turned towards them.

"I know, let's go end this".


	12. Last Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! 
> 
>  
> 
> There is only an hour left until the new year starts here in England, but I wish you all the best in the upcoming year!
> 
>  
> 
> Warnings!!!
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter includes gore and what I hope is an overall scarier chapter than normal since I felt like the horror had been lacking since the first chapter. 
> 
>  
> 
> This Chapter has not been edited at all but I will try and do so tomorrow because there is going to be a million grammar and spelling mistakes.

Donghyuck's eyes blinked open.

Looking around he gulped as he found himself alone, he knew he was going to be entering this place but wasn't quite as prepared as he had originally thought. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he looked around the room. It was fairly large in size, big enough to fit two of his own room. It was spaceous, the only objects in site were the looming puppets that were strung from the ceiling.

Donghyuck felt himself swallow unconsciously as it seemed the marionettes eyes followed every movement he made with small beedy eyes. "Hello? Is anyone there?" he called hesistantly, eyes never straying from the dolls as he tried to press himself futher against the wall. "Mark? Jeno?" he tried again but was met with silence.

A slight twitch from the opposite corner of the room had his head snapping towards the direction but nothing seemed any different than it had moments before. He inhaled a shaky breath, repremanding himself silentently for pscyching himself out. The moment was interrupted as another jerky movement from the doll left the boy staring, paralyzed in fear as the doll continued to move mid-air, its movements looked almost panicked.

He continued to stare, too scared to take his eyes off the doll until it's struggles seemed to lessen and it came to an abrupt stop, the only evidence that the previous moments occured was the light swaying caused by the disturbed strings. 

His loud breathing filled the room as his eyes darted around, searching for any sign of movement. After a few minutes nothing more happened and Donghyuck slowly found himself relaxing but still alert. Just as he released a quiet sigh he felt something cold on his hand. Glancing down he saw a small wooden hand on his own, following the arm his eyes met with the cold, emotionless painted eyes of a doll, it's head tilting to the side as it stared at him. 

Donghyuck batted the hand from his own and stood, bolting to the other side of the room faster than he thought possible. He eyed the doll as it dragged its self towards him, now seeming more hostile than before. He backed away, his eyes never leaving the marionette when he heard a thud from his side, his head snapped towards the noise and found a second doll a metre away. 

His eyes shook as his mind ran non-stop, trying to figure out a way out. Just behind the second doll there was a plain wooden door, he didn't even think as he ran towards it,he didn't even take notice as more thuds sounded behind him. As he reached the door he stepped on the doll harshly causing a shattering noise through out the room, but he payed no mind to it as he reached the door and tugged the handle. 

Of course it didn't move. 

Donghyuck panicked, rattling the door continuously, slamming into it with hope that it would open, but of course he had no such luck. He shouted the names of his friends, hoping they were near by and soon heard a response. 

"Donghyuck!" the call sounded far but he responded none the less, tears of relief flooding his face as he heard the calls getting closer until they were right outside the door. 

"Donghyuck, oh my god! Are you okay?" hee clearly heard Renjun and immediately replied. "I'm okay, just please get me ou-" the only warning he got before he felt himself being yanked back was a cold, velvety slither across the neck. 

"Donghyuck! Hyuck! What's going on!?" he could hear his friends calling him, banging on the door frantically but could do nothing but make choked noises as his body was lifted from the floor, a ribben strung tightly around his neck. His hands desperately tugged at the string as he tried helplessly to escape but to no avail, with every move he swore it only got tighter. 

Looking up, tears blocked his vision but he still saw the blurry face staring down at him. Donghyuck recognised it as the first doll he had seen, it's face now painted but a dangerous grin, as if it was now enjoying watching Donghyuck's imminent death.

His vision started to darken as he felt himself run out of breath, gravity pulling painfully on his swaying body. He went still as his body started to give up. 

 

The door finally broke open as Jeno and Jisung gave it one last painfully hard shove, both boys falling to the floor at the sudden emptiness. Renjun rushed past them into the room, Jaemin not far behind him as they saw the still body of Donghyuck. Renjun gave a frightened shout as he and Jaemin rushed towards the body. Chenle stalled in the doorway as Jisung and Jeno joined the othwr two, his eyes wide  and breath stuttered at the sight in front of him. 

Jaemin quickly held onto his motionless friends legs, hoisting him up as much as possible to help him breath, Jisung joining him not even a second later. Jeno and Renjun circled him as they tried to find a way to get him down but came up with nothing. 

"Hurry!" Jisung cried out as he struggled with the shared weight. Jeno nodded frantically before his eyes widdened, his mind remembering what they had learnt about dreams when researching for Mark. He closed his eyes tightly until he felt a cold weight in his hand, opening them he found a sharp knife and quickly handed it to Renjun before picking the shorter boy up so he was able to reach the ribben. 

It took meer seconds before the offending object was cut free and all the boys fell with the new weight. On the floor Jaemin quickly turned Donghyuck so he was facing the ceiling and slapped his cheeks. "Donghyuck, can you hear me?" he repeated the question as the rest of the friends stayed silent with bated breathes as they listened for a response, Chenle stepping further into the room so he could monitor the situation closer. 

After what seemed like eternatty they heard Donghyuck inhale sharply which was followed by deep, desperate breaths. Jeno quickly helped the boy into a sitting position, rubbing his back as the boy continued to try and catch his breath. After a few minutes of them silently comforting the boy they heard his choke out a sob. 

"I thought I was dead, I thought I would never see you guys again" he slurred between gasps of air, Renjun leaned forward and pulled him into a tight hug, Chenle finally sat down with them and grasped Donghyuck shirt tightly in his hand, reassuring himself that he was really fine. 

It took a few minutes but Donghyuck pulled out of the hug and looked around at the exhausted, scared faces of his friends. It didn't take long before he noticed something was wrong. He looked around again before noticing the lack of a certain face. He looked around frantically as his body jolted forward. His friends tried to calm him, all starting to panic at his sudden actions.

Jisung held him still, the youngest member grasped his face so he was forced to look directly into his eyes. "Hyung, what's wrong?" He askes, his voice quaking slightly as he tried to keep himself calm. 

"Mark! Where's Mark?" he asked desperately, he watched as all their faces paled and they looked around much like his had only moments ago. Chenle shot up and ran to the door but found nothing as he looked outside, he shook his head and gasped as the foreding feelings return. 

"Somethings wrong, something doesn't feel right" he said to no one in particular. The other quickly joined him by the door, Renjun supporting Donghyuck tired body as they walked out as fast as they could.  Once they got out of the haunted house they looked around, Donghyuck noticed and looked at them, confused as to what they were looking for. 

"What's going on? We need to look for Mark" he was ignored as Jeno shook his head, his hand coming to grasp at his hair. "This isn't right! Why isn't the light changing" he asked, looking up at the lights illuminating the haunted house.

Jaemin stood silently as he looked at the lights, one in particular catching his attention. He pointed to the glowing arrow by the entrance. "That wasn't there before...was it?" he asked slowly as the others turned to look what he was pointing at. "So we need to go back in there?" Donghyuck asked shakily. Renjun looked at him worriedly but nodded. 

"You can stay out here if you think you can't go back" he suggested softly but Donghyuck's eyes hardened as he looked into the dark entrance resolutely.

"I can go".

"But Hyuck, what just happened was pretty traumatic, are you sure you'll be okay?" Jaemin tried to reason, his hand coming to wipe a bit of blood from his head as he felt it slide down his face. Jeno frowned, worried when he saw the blood soaking through the make-shift bandage on his. 

"I want to go, Mark is still in there" Donghyuck argued, not going to take no as an answer and moved towards the entrance with listening to anything else. The other boys quickly following behind to ensure that they would not lose each other again. 

They walked carefully down the dimmly lit hallways, following only where the lights, they stayed completely silent much like they had when looking for Donghyuck, something that had thankfully resulting in finding and saving him from being stuck in this place for however long all the spirits would be. Donghyuck flinched as he saw a marionette handing carelessly from the ceiling, it's eyes following him as he moved forward. Renjun squeezed the boy's hand when he felt him tense up.

Chenle cringed as he caught onto where they appeared to be being lead. He stopped, making Jisung do so too as the younger boy had been holding onto his arm. Jisung noticed the frightened look on the slightly older boys face and alerted the other of the pause. They all turned around Renjun frowning at the pale face of the younger Chinese boy. "Chenle?"

The boy meerly responded by shaking his head, eyes wide with fear. Jisung clutched onto his arm tighter, glancing desperately at the older boys for help. They weren't sure what to do, Jeno sighed, shaken himself at seeing how scared Chenle looked when he was usually so fearless.

"Chenle, please we have to keep moving or something bad might happen to Mark" Donghyuck pleaded, looking into the younger boys eyes. Chenle nodded, hesitantly moving forward while voicing a warning. "It's taking us towards the basement" he let out a shaky breath but continued walking, clutching tightly onto Jisung's arm. "Something is down there, it feels evil" he said, his words sounding more empty than scared causing Jaemin to frown and look towards him, seeing nothing wrong he turned back. 

They reached the stairs, all of them glancing down unsurely as it was no longer lit up by any lights. Renjun gulped and tightened his grip on Donghyuck before moving down the stairs, his stare hand feeling around for a railing to hold onto which he found in seconds. 

"Whoever is behind me, hold onto my shirt" seconds later he felt a tug on the back of his shirt and breathed a sigh before instructing the two at the back to do the same with the people in front of them, after he received verbal confirmation that everyone is holding onto someone he continued to move forward with Donghyuck at his side. 

The further they went down the colder it seemed to get, Jisung shivered and turned as he felt something ghost against the back of his neck, seieing nothing but darkness he turned back around quickly when he felt a tug on the shirt he was holding and quickly moved forward. 

Once they reached the bottom of them stairs there was a smaller slither of light which seemed to originate from a crack in the door. Donghyuck quickly raced foward, ignoring the protests of his friends and burst through the door of the basement. The smell hit Donghyuck as soon as he entered, if was so strong that he quickly turned away and threw up to the side, his eyes watering at how terrible the stench was. 

It was then he knew. This was where Mark had been confined the two years they were all comfy at home while he was missing, the thought brought a different kind of tears to his eyes as he stayed hunched over. The others entered the room with similar reactions. Donghyuck only stood when he heard a shocked exclaimation from Chenle, which made him whip around to face the inside of the room. 

In the corner sat Mark, he stared at them, although in Donghyuck's opinion it was more like the older boy was looking right through them as his eyes were unfocused, he was just staring forward blankly, not reacting to their presence at all. 

From the corner of his eye Donghyuck saw Jeno move to step forward and did the same, only to stop short as Mark slumped forward, only to be caught by a dark hand. Donghyuck eye trailed up and he saw familiar yellow eyes, wrinkled from a smile, staring right back at him. He shuddered unconsciously and took a step only to knock into Renjun who held onto his shoulders, squeezing one reassuringly. 

Chenle shook as he stared at the figure, finally face-to-face with the real evil behind all of what had happened. He squeezed his eyes shut knowing this was what the feeling in his chest was warning him of. From that point on he knew that something bad was going to happen, but couldn't do anything but stare helplessly. 

The figure smiled as he pressed Mark to his chest in some sort of a hug. "What did I say? Didn't I warn you that I would take back what was mine" he smirked as he saw the boys glare back at him defiantly. "What? Those looks aren't very nice" he teased as he brough his hand up to the boys cheeks and pierced it with his nail, happy when he was all the boys tense up. 

"Now, now, don't be like that. If you agree to leave the boy here right now I'll let you all return". They all remained silent but all of them knew there was only one answer to that offer.

"No" Donghyuck voiced their thoughts, growing worried as the playful look fell from the demons face. "Very well, I guess stupid boys will have to learn their lesson the hard way. You all get to stay here and keep me company, of course that's not the only consequence to your impudence". The creature shook Mark, a new smile on his face as the boy blinked away, his eyes still empty and unseeing. 

"Mark, who is the only one who cares about you?" Mark looked around until his eyes fell onto the demon, a smal l, meaningless smile making its way onto his face. 

"You" 

The boy gasped, not sure what was going on but shocked by the boys answer. "Mark, what are you talking about-" the demon glared at Jeno who shut his mouth at the force of the look. A shadowed hand reached up and stroked the boys hair, praising him. 

"That's right, I need you do something for me" Mark nodded in understanding and continued to stare at the figure holding him. The old creature smiled a wretched smile and pulled a shiny object from behind him. Jeno gasped at seeing the very same item he wished into existence just a while before. Chenle tensed onced again, finally understanding what was happening, what the warning had been about. 

The creature handed the knife to the older teen who took it easily. "I want you to use it, I no longer care meaning no one does, so as the last request from the only person to care for you, I want you to end it".

The boys raised their voices in frantic protest as they saw blank eyes stare down at the knife and nod. Donghyuck felt his whole world shatter as knife was raised and plunged, recognition and sadness flashing in those eyes a second too late as the sharp silver met with the soft flesh of the boys chest. 

Donghyuck screamed in anger at the being as he saw the bright red flowing down the boy's chest. Chenle fell to the floow at the sight, he had had so many warnings and in the end it still happened, he was weak and ignored the signs of what was to come. 

They raced forward as the figure stepped away from their closest friend, a wicked smile on his face as the boy chocked and fell to the side. Jisung cried out as he watched Donghyuck reach the mortally wounded male, carefully placing his head in his lap. 

Donghyuck watched as the eyes blinked open again, this time so full of emotion that Donghyuck had to look away but the boy spoke. 

"I'm sorry" the eldest male muttered out, his breath struggling as Jaemin shook his head from his seat beside the boy and wiped his tears. Jeno stopped Jisung when the younger boy moved to remove the knife. "Don't that might be the only thing stopping him from bleeding out already" Jisung nodded in understanding. 

The oldest teen kept apologising as his breath stuttered. Chenle gently shushed him and grabbed his cold hand. "You're going to be alright, we're going to get you out of here and get help" Mark chocked on a sob and apologised again. They could do nothing but watch as the boy's eyes closed despite their pleas not too, his breathing shallow and a final apology on his lips.

 Jeno released an enraged cry and stood, his tear filled eyes finding the creature who just stared back at him amusement. "You monster! I will kill you!" he shouted, Renjun shood next to him, anger seeping off of him as the older boy glanced down at the still body of their older friend. 

"You guys take Mark and head for the park's exit, something tells me thats our way out" Renjun said, not turning of waiting for a reply but listening as they struggled to pick up the body of their friend and leave. 

The demon sneered at him, unhappy that the boy had figured out the escape. "Where do you think you're going?" it asked angrily. Jeno shrugged and smirked towards the creature as he wiped his tears. "Nowhere yet, we have one last thing to take care of, don't we Renjun". 

Renjun agreed and paced slightly. "You see early as you could tell, I remebered the key to a dream is being able to control it and that's exactly what we're going to do. It seems that whatever happens here, happens in the real world so going by that we are going to kill you" Jeno explained, the demon scoffed in fake boldness. "Oh you are, are you? And how exactly are you going to that?" 

"Fire" Renjun answered easily, the good thing about myths is that most of the time there is some truth to them and that being the case means that the way to kill you is by burning down this haunted house" The creatures eyes widened for only a second but Renjun caught it and knew he had guessed correctly.

"So this really is where you ended your puny life, huh" Jeno chuckled and shut his eyes until he felt smooth metal in his hand. 

"Would you look at that, a lighter" he looked over at Renjun who held a small tank of gasoline. "and some gasoline, perfect ingrediantly for a fire, don't you think" he taunted as he watched the creature grown angrier.  Renjun poured the liquid as they backed towards the stairs. They continued to pour as ran up the stairs and through the hallways until thy found the exit. 

When they reacher the exit they found the shadowy figure already there. Jeno no longer felt fear, he felt it for too long now and they could finally end it, which was exactly what they did.

Jeno stared into the creatures eyes as he casually opened the lighter and dropped it onto the strong liquid. The figure pitched forward with a scream as it tried to stop it but nothing could be done as the fire and liquid touch making bright flames light the halls. 

The creature shrieked and thrashed as it fell to the floor. They covered their eyes at the tortuous screams and Jeno felt Renjun start to tug him away. They stopped when the noise quieted and turned to see the building burn colourful shades of red, orange and blue. 

"It's over" Jeno choked out but frowned when Renjun shook his head. "We need to leave in order for it to be over. Plus Mark hyung's injury..." he trailed off. "Let's just go, the sooner we leave the sooner we can wake up and find out what happened. They must all be waiting for us, all of them" Renjun nodded and sped to towards the exit, not stopping until they passed through the gates and their visions turned black. 

 

 

"-ck. Donghyuck can you hear me?" Donghyuck groaned as he felt himself waking up, his body ached and he whined. He whined as he heard the voice which he identified as Doyoung continue to talk to him. 

It was only when he felt the soreness of his throat that memories of what had happened made him jolt up, narrowly missing Doyoung who had been leaning over him. From somewhere else in the room he heard more names being called but did nothing other than stare up into Doyoung's red rimmed eyes.

"Oh thank goodness you're awake" Donghyuck stared at the male as he grabbed a cup of water from the bedside table and handed it to him carefully, which he accepted gratefully. 

Doyoung waited until he finished drinking, Jaehyun joining them during that time. "What on earth happened? You guys all fainted which Taeyong kind of explained to us but injuries were just appearing out of nowhere and then you stopped breathing and then Mark had a mysterious stab wound and-" Jaehyun stopped the rambling boy who didn't even stop to breath as he saw the haunted look in Donghyuck's eyes. 

"It's okay, rest, you don't have to think about that now" Jaehyun soothed the younger male and Donghyuck nodded only slightly to keep from upsetting the injury on his neck.

"Mark...is he okay?" he asked hesitantly, not entirely sure he was ready to hear the answer but wanting to know none the less. 

"He's going to be okay, he was taken in for an emergency surgery but the doctor said that in a few weeks he should be able to recover fully. The wound was fixable, it was the blood loss that they were worried about" Donghyuck nodded and looked around the room and spotted everyone other than said male in the room, all laying awake in their own beds. 

Jaemin looked over and saw Donghyuck looking at him, he smiled and waved, Yuta turned to see and and smiled when he saw another one of the boys awake. 

Taeyong walked into the room not long after they had all awoken, a smile on his face as he sat on a chair. 

"It's done. My dad snt news that the Park caught fire last night, it's still burning but firefighters are standing guard to make sure it doesn't spread further". The boys all felt a weight lift from their chest and Jeno couldn't help but stay quiet in shock. Hansol noticed and asked him what was wrong, he smiled and shook his head, amazed that their plan had worked, they were finally free from nightmare that had been looming over them for the last two years.

"It's over your all safe now".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I can't believe it's finally done, I started this story over a year ago with plans of just making it a one-shot but now it's my first completed chapter fic. 
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> I'm so thankful towards those that read and support this fic even though I was crappy at updating and hardly ever edited properly so thank you for putting up with this silly author. 
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> I don't know what else to say but I hope everyone enjoyed this story. I might write an epilogue but I have many other stories that I am slacking at updating right now so I'm not sure about that yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!  
> If you have any questions or just want to talk you can find me on twitter @MarkeuPop.
> 
> I love hearing your thoughts and opinions on Comments and Kudos they give me life. :)
> 
> Pandi (>^-^)>~


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